♻️⬇️🚨NEW PAPER ALERT♻️⬇️🚨

Led by #AdriftLab’s PhD student and all-round superstar, Alix de Jersey, and co-authored by supervisors Jenn Lavers (@SeabirdSentinel), Graeme Zosky, and Jack Auty.

Access the paper here ➡️ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0269749123014616?via%3Dihub
(note: if you don’t have access, send us an email and we’ll provide the PDF)

RESEARCH SYNOPSIS: in this review article, we discuss the far-reaching, complex, and poorly understood threat that pollution poses for human and wildlife health. We argue #InterdisciplinaryResearch is crucial to encapsulate the diversity of these consequences. We highlight how applying advanced techniques and expertise adapted in medical research to wildlife exposed to pollutants offers a unique opportunity.

Additionally, we bring light to the challenges impeding the progress of this research including lack of funding. To do this, we obtained data on #funding for medical & biological research from major research councils for the last 20 years. Only 0.5% of available funds were dedicated to pollution-focused research and only 0.03% of this already tiny fraction was dedicated to explaining the #wildlife experience!! (read that again and let it sink in!) 😳👎

Paper title: “The understudied global experiment of pollution’s impacts on wildlife and human health”

#WomenInSTEM #TeamWork #PlasticPollution #ResearchFunding

Are you in #Sydney #Australia on 23 Sept? Come see #AdriftLab’s Dr Jenn Lavers @SeabirdSentinel speak about #ArtSci #collaboration & #PlasticPollution at Powerhouse Museum. The panel discussion will be feature Jetsam, an incredible table made of beach-washed #ocean #plastic (see photo!) by renowned furniture designer Brodie Neill 🌊♻️

Brodie lives in London, he kindly put Jenn’s name forward for this event. This created an important opportunity to limit #CO2 through not flying internationally - yay! In addition, as Jenn has committed to significantly reduce her own flying, she’ll be staying in the Sydney area for 3 weeks to attend a research paper #WritingRetreat, meet with colleagues, & complete critical #FieldWork on #LordHoweIsland.

Find out more and *book your ticket* by visiting our news page www.AdriftLab.org

#flygskam #SciComm #jetsam #RecycledMaterials #FurnitureDesign #MarineScience

Did we catch your attention with this adorable petrel chick? Oh good, now that we’ve got you…

🚨EXCITING NEW PAPER ALERT 🚨

#AdriftLab announce yet more ground-breaking #research alongside >100 international scientists. Published in #NatureCommunications, we compiled 3 huge datasets: #plastic ingested by 77 #seabirds, >1.6 million #tracking locations & plastic abundance in the #oceans. We used these data to answer the question: which species forage in areas of the ocean where large amounts of plastic have accumulated?

So, why does this matter? The results demonstrate that plastics exposure varies by species, location & season with threatened species being particularly vulnerable. Thus, large-scale collaborative teamwork is essential to identifying priorities, particularly important as the pace/scale of environmental change (including #PlasticPollution) is rapidly increasing & funding for mitigation isnt keeping pace. Thus, a detailed knowledge of when/where marine animals are most at risk of encountering plastics could not be more timely.

Paper free to download here ➡️ https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-38900-z
@SeabirdSentinel @SeabirdResearch

The #AdriftLab team are THRILLED to announce one of our brilliant students, Megan received incredible feedback from her PhD thesis examiners: essentially…zero revisions on >200 pages of writing. This is rare and speaks to Megan’s remarkable skill, dedication, and willingness to collaborate.

Message from Jenn: I’ve been so lucky to be primary supervisor for both Megan’s Honours and PhD. I distinctly remember the first day she walked into my office, and so many laughs, cries, and wonderful stories ever since. I think I speak for everyone when I say Megan is one of the kindest, most hardworking and compassionate researchers and we all are very fortunate to have worked with her. It’s been an absolute l honour and career highlight.
HUGE CONGRATULATIONS DR MEGAN GRANT! 🥳

#ThesisSubmission #TeamWork #LordHoweIsland #seabirds #shearwaters #PlasticPollution #GoodScienceGoodPeople

Proud supervisors: @SeabirdSentinel, @TheLabAndField & Suzie Reichman (Uni MEL)

Another #AdriftLab #seabird paper has been featured in #AudubonMagazine (this important #research from #Australia will now reach an even broader audience in the USA) 🥳 - congrats to Hayley (our student) and team 👏

“a word can only do so much. Ultimately, reducing the world’s reliance on #plastic is the preventive treatment for #plasticosis”

#LordHoweIsland #PlasticPollution #SublethalEffects #PlasticIngestion @SeabirdSentinel @TheLabAndField READ THE ARTICLE HERE ➡️https://www.audubon.org/news/plastic-pollution-so-pervasive-its-causing-new-disease-seabirds

BIG CONGRATS to #AdriftLab MSc candidate Meg who completed her final seminar on #microplastics in #ports yesterday 🥳. Over the past 9 months, she did an amazing job trialing methods to find one that actually works for #sediments (this was a huge achievement in its own right and the lessons learned will greatly benefit the broader #plastics community) 👏

#FTIR #TeamWork #AnthrofishLab #AIIPOP #EsperanceTjaltjraak #ThesisSubmission