Microplastics are widespread. When they enter the sea, they are immediately colonized by microbes forming the so-called "microbial plastosphere". We sample microplastics in marine coastal systems, collecting them using the "manta" net and selecting pieces for counting and characterizing the microbes attached on them by light microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy and High Throuput Sequencing. The applicant will participate to sampling cruises (if the Covid situation will allow), and to SEM and DNA extraction. She/he will learn how to render the data and to apply statistics for their interpretation. If to be done only remotely, the student will have available files already acquired of images and sequences to work on remotely with basic informatics support.
