Understanding marine microplastic dynamics using macroplastics as a proxy
My PhD project will aim to use a hypothesis-driven model, which predicts the movement of floating marine plastic, to identify areas with high macroplastic deposition, and determine whether this is correlated with high levels of microplastics.
Supervisors
Prof Bhavani Narayanaswamy, SAMS
Dr Andrew Dale, SAMS
Dr Bill Turrell, Marine Scotland Science
Dr Mark Hartl, Heriot Watt
Funder
The Scottish Universities Partnership for Environmental Research, Doctoral Training Partnership (SUPER DTP)
University
University of the Highlands and Islands
Publications
Allison NL, Dale AC, Turrell WR, Narayanaswamy BE (2023) Modelled and observed plastic pollution on remote Scottish beaches: The importance of local marine sources. Marine Pollution Bulletin 194: 115341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115341
Allison NL, Dale A, Turrell WR, Aleynik D and Narayanaswamy BE (2022) Simulating the distribution of beached litter on the northwest coast of Scotland. Front. Environ. Sci. 10:940892. doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2022.940892
Professional training courses
GIS for Ecologists, Scottish Centre for Ecology and the Natural Environment (SCENE), 2016
PADI Open Water Certification, Scuba Diving Scotland (SDS), 2017
Employment
February 2018 – August 2019 - Marine Turtle Monitoring Project Coordinator, Canadian Organisation for Tropical Education and Rainforest Conservation (COTERC), Caño Palma Biological Station, Costa Rica
March 2017 – June 2017 - Marine Turtle Project Intern – as part of MSc thesis, COTERC, Caño Palma Biological Station, Costa Rica
February 2016 – August 2016 - Head Research Assistant, Latin American Sea Turtles (LAST), Pacuare Reserve, Costa Rica
June 2015 – September 2015 - Turtle Trax S.A, Costa Rica
Higher Education
2018 - MSc Quantitative Methods in Biodiversity, Conservation and Epidemiology, University of Glasgow
2017- BSc (Hons) Marine Biology, University of Stirling