Reef-building corals and synthetic microdebris
What leads to the deposition of synthetic microdebris in reef-building corals?
2020-2025: Ph.D. Project of Vanessa Tirpitz, M.Sc.
The pollution of marine environments has increased over the last decades and is considered a growing threat to marine life. Particularly synthetic microdebris, such as microplastics receive public and scientific attention, as they affect a variety of marine species and, due to their small size, they accumulate in food chains. Microplastics also affect reef-building corals, the keystone species of coral reef ecosystems. It can impact their health by, for example, reducing the growth of the coral, altering the photosynthesis of their symbionts, or leading to so-called 'coral bleaching' and tissue loss. Corals also overgrow and ingest microplastics with their polyps, incorporating it in their tissue and skeleton. However, the processes leading to this deposition and the underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. Therefore, the aim of this project is to disentangle the factors that drive the incorporation of different microplastics in reef-building corals. Specifically, I will investigate the role of particle concentrations and polymer types and shapes for the incorporation in corals in aquarium experiments. These results will then be related to samples from natural coral reefs. This project will thus help to identify conservation measures to minimize environmental pressures on threatened coral reef systems.
Highlighted publications
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Tirpitz V, López MA, Krey T, Krüger C, Krüger-Zechlin V, Nagel M, Wiltschka K, Düring R-A, Ziegler M, Reichert J. 2026. Factors influencing the feeding responses of reef-building corals to microplastics. Marine Pollution Bulletin 227:119479. DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2026.119479.
- Tirpitz V, Hutter M, Hutter H, Prume J, Koch M, Wilke T, Reichert J. 2025. Increasing microplastic concentrations have nonlinear impacts on the physiology of reef-building corals. Science of The Total Environment 960:178318. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.178318.
- Reichert J, Tirpitz V, Plaza K, Wörner E, Bösser L, Kühn S, Primpke S, Schubert P, Ziegler M, Wilke T. 2024. Common types of microdebris affect the physiology of reef-building corals. Science of The Total Environment 912:169276. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169276
- Reichert J, Tirpitz V, Oponczewski M, Lin C, Franke N, Ziegler M, Wilke T. 2023. Feeding responses of reef-building corals provide species- and concentration-dependent risk assessment of microplastic. Science of The Total Environment:169485. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169485