CAREER: The Plastisphere of Pond Ecosystems: Understanding the function and fate of novel carbon in biogeochemical hotspots

Plastics represent a form of novel carbon, solid waste, and debris.

Most plastics travel through freshwater environments to the ocean, making ponds an important place to study the impact of this novel carbon source. Ponds are widespread across various landscapes and provide many important services.

Most notably, ponds provide resilience by capturing and removing storm water, carbon materials, solid waste, and debris.

Depending on size and age, ponds can be sites of where carbon is emitted or stored, which is important regarding emissions of gasses to the atmosphere. Therefore, pond ecosystem services may be altered by captured plastic debris.

The prolonged storage of plastic debris in ponds allows for the breakdown of plastic litter into smaller particles recognized as microplastics (particles