Workshop Summary: Ecosystem Level Effects of Microplastics in the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) of Canada

In December 2018, Ocean Conservancy and University of Toronto convened a group of aquatic ecologists and physical limnologists from the International Institute for Sustainable Development – ELA (IISD_ELA), academia and government to brainstorm and plan for a whole ecosystem experiment on microplastics at IISD–ELA. Using the facility's access to 58 lakes and their watersheds which have been set aside for scientific research, the experiment aims to increase understanding of the ecological effects of microplastics across all levels of biological organization, including any effects on ecosystem processes and their fate within the biological and physical components of an ecosystem.