[OANNES Foro] BabyLegs is a research trawl (net system) for monitoring plastic pollution, especially microplastics, in surface water.

Fiorella Sala casal en infotex.com.pe
Jue Jul 18 11:41:14 PDT 2019


 
<https://publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/025/547/original/BabyLegs-me
opar_shot-SM.jpg>  


BabyLegs is a research trawl (net system) for monitoring plastic pollution,
especially microplastics, in surface water.

BabyLegs
<mailto:moderators en publiclab.org?subject=Reporting+spam+on+Public+Lab&body=H
i,+I+found+this+item+that+looks+like+spam+or+needs+to+be+moderated:+BabyLegs
+https://publiclab.org/n/16667+by+https://publiclab.org/profile/maxliboiron+
Thanks!> 

https://publiclab.org/wiki/babylegs

 


Microplastics  <https://publiclab.org/wiki/babylegs#Microplastics> 


Of the 5.25 trillion pieces of marine plastics in the world's oceans, 92%
are microplastics less that 5mm in size (Eirksen et al 2014), allowing them
to be easily ingested by marine life as small as plankton (Cole et al 2013).
Scientists are concerned that because plastics absorb up to a million times
more chemicals than surrounding waters (Mato et al 2001), widespread
ingestion means that toxicants that accumulate in animals can magnify up
food webs, causing a potential threat to human health (Rochman et al 2013,
Teuten et al 2009). This makes microplastics an environmental justice issue
as people who eat marine mammals or who depend upon fish for sustenance are
more likely to carry high toxic burdens. (text
<https://civiclaboratory.nl/2015/05/31/babylegs/> from civiclaboratory.nl)


Design goals  <https://publiclab.org/wiki/babylegs#Design+goals> 


Created with baby's tights, soda pop bottles, and other inexpensive and easy
to find materials that cost ~$20, Babylegs can be used to trawl for floating
microplastics from the surface of the water. She can be used with a boat
(motorized going as fast as 5 knots in calm water, or human-propelled such
as a canoe or paddle board), or by being tied off on a bridge or pier for
passive sampling. BabyLegs mimics the type of samples collected by the more
expensive ($3500)  <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manta_trawl> Manta Trawl:
floating  <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microplastics> microplastics
between 5mm-1mm in size.

Originally designed by  <https://civiclaboratory.nl/2015/05/31/babylegs/>
Max Liboiron at the activist science laboratory CLEAR for sampling in
Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, BabyLegs is specifically built with items
that are easy to come by in northern, rural communities. But the design
supports hacks, replacements, and innovations that suit local needs.

Community and NGO groups have had success using BabyLegs to gather samples.
The main expertise bottleneck is not in building or using BabyLegs, but in
interpreting the samples. Microplastics are very hard to visually identify,
since many things like rocks, bones, and organics look like plastics, and
tiny plastics can be hard to see at all. The activity guides below are
divided into sections on
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/07-17-2018/building-babylegs-surfac
e-water-trawl> building the BabyLegs trawl,
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/07-17-2018/how-to-use-babylegs>
deploying BabyLegs in the water,
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/07-19-2018/how-to-process-microplas
tic-samples-from-a-trawl> processing the sample in a kitchen, school, or
laboratory whereby the plastics are sorted from the organics, and finally
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/07-19-2018/how-to-analyze-plastics-
forensically> forensically analyzing the microplastics so you can learn
about the pollution in your waters.

 <https://publiclab.org/i/25546> Microplastics-nickel-Hudson-BBL-2015-SM.jpg

The image above shows some of the microplastics BabyLegs captured in the
Hudson River, New York City.


Questions  <https://publiclab.org/wiki/babylegs#Questions> 


Q: Can I change materials on the trawl, or change the design? A: Of course!
The only thing you have to make sure of is that the mouth of the trawl is
always half in the water and half out. It cannot dive or skip over the
water. Also beware of any materials that might put more plastic into the
ocean or into the sample (plastic 3D printing, fleece, and plastic thread
are particularly bad for this). Also, the design outlined here has been
tested in a variety of waters. New designs might not behave as well in
choppy water, at higher speeds, or in wind.

Q: What sort of data does a sample from BabyLegs yield?
A: Things you can know from a sample:

*	The types of plastics (fragments, films, beads, threads, etc) that
are in a body of water.
*	The relative frequency of each type of plastic compared to others
(perhaps you have a lot of fishing gear, but not many microbeads compared to
other places)
*	The relative hotspots for plastics if you do sample strategically in
different areas.
*	Whether there are more or fewer plastics after rainfall events if
you trawl before and immediately after rainfalls. This can include other
temporal events that you think are adding plastics to your water (storms,
tourist festivals, seasons).

You will not know:

*	Where the plastics come from. They might be local, or they might
have come from far away.
*	How long plastics have been in the water. Some things can get tossed
around in strong waves and look beat up after short periods of time, while
plastics that sink can look pristine after years.
*	About plastics that are smaller than 1mm. You might be able to see
some, but research has shown that 1mm is the smallest cut off size that
human eyes can reliably identify a plastic.

Q: Has BabyLegs been validated?

A. Yes and no. BabyLegs has been validated in laboratory settings to ensure
that water flows freely through the device and does not "choke" on water. It
is also how we determined that 5 knots is the maximum speed. However,
BabyLegs has not been validated against another trawl to ensure she collects
samples identical to scientific standards like the manta trawl. Stay tuned--
we should have it done by the end of fall 2018.

Other questions are answered in the guides below.

 <https://publiclab.org/i/25729> Screen_Shot_2018-07-17_at_6.18.49_PM.png

This image shows BabyLegs in action. You can see that part of the trawl is
underwater and some is above water, allowing the trawl to capture things
floating on the surface.


Activities  <https://publiclab.org/wiki/babylegs#Activities> 


 
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/06-15-2019/babylegs-in-the-classroo
m> image


 
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/06-15-2019/babylegs-in-the-classroo
m> BabyLegs in the classroom
<https://publiclab.org/wiki/babylegs#%3Ca+href=%22/notes/maxliboiron/06-15-2
019/babylegs-in-the-classroom%22+style=%22padding-top:+0px%22%3EBabyLegs+in+
the+classroom%3C/a%3E> by  <https://publiclab.org/profile/maxliboiron>
maxliboiron about 1 month ago |
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/06-15-2019/babylegs-in-the-classroo
m#comments>  0 | 72 views |  1 |


 <https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/07-17-2018/how-to-use-babylegs>
image


 <https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/07-17-2018/how-to-use-babylegs>
How to use BabyLegs
<https://publiclab.org/wiki/babylegs#%3Ca+href=%22/notes/maxliboiron/07-17-2
018/how-to-use-babylegs%22+style=%22padding-top:+0px%22%3EHow+to+use+BabyLeg
s%3C/a%3E>  by  <https://publiclab.org/profile/maxliboiron> maxliboiron
about 1 year ago |
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/07-17-2018/how-to-use-babylegs#comm
ents>  2 |  228views |  4 |


 
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/07-19-2018/how-to-analyze-plastics-
forensically> image


 
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/07-19-2018/how-to-analyze-plastics-
forensically> How to analyze plastics forensically
<https://publiclab.org/wiki/babylegs#%3Ca+href=%22/notes/maxliboiron/07-19-2
018/how-to-analyze-plastics-forensically%22+style=%22padding-top:+0px%22%3EH
ow+to+analyze+plastics+forensically+%3C/a%3E>  by
<https://publiclab.org/profile/maxliboiron> maxliboiron 12 months ago |
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/07-19-2018/how-to-analyze-plastics-
forensically#comments>  2 |  568views |  6 |


 
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/07-19-2018/how-to-process-microplas
tic-samples-from-a-trawl> image


 
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/07-19-2018/how-to-process-microplas
tic-samples-from-a-trawl> How to process microplastic samples from a trawl
<https://publiclab.org/wiki/babylegs#%3Ca+href=%22/notes/maxliboiron/07-19-2
018/how-to-process-microplastic-samples-from-a-trawl%22+style=%22padding-top
:+0px%22%3EHow+to+process+microplastic+samples+from+a+trawl%3C/a%3E> by
<https://publiclab.org/profile/maxliboiron> maxliboiron 12 months ago |
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/07-19-2018/how-to-process-microplas
tic-samples-from-a-trawl#comments>  0 |  475views |  4 |


 
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/07-17-2018/building-babylegs-surfac
e-water-trawl> image


 
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/07-17-2018/building-babylegs-surfac
e-water-trawl> Building BabyLegs (surface water trawl)
<https://publiclab.org/wiki/babylegs#%3Ca+href=%22/notes/maxliboiron/07-17-2
018/building-babylegs-surface-water-trawl%22+style=%22padding-top:+0px%22%3E
Building+BabyLegs+(surface+water+trawl)%3C/a%3E> by
<https://publiclab.org/profile/maxliboiron> maxliboiron about 1 year ago |
<https://publiclab.org/notes/maxliboiron/07-17-2018/building-babylegs-surfac
e-water-trawl#comments>  3 |  471views |  3 |


 



---
El software de antivirus Avast ha analizado este correo electrónico en busca de virus.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
------------ próxima parte ------------
Se ha borrado un adjunto en formato HTML...
URL: <http://lista.oannes.org.pe/pipermail/oannes-oannes.org.pe/attachments/20190718/5774c8dd/attachment.html>
------------ próxima parte ------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 369699 bytes
Desc: no disponible
URL: <http://lista.oannes.org.pe/pipermail/oannes-oannes.org.pe/attachments/20190718/5774c8dd/attachment.jpg>
------------ próxima parte ------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 82934 bytes
Desc: no disponible
URL: <http://lista.oannes.org.pe/pipermail/oannes-oannes.org.pe/attachments/20190718/5774c8dd/attachment-0001.jpg>
------------ próxima parte ------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 736973 bytes
Desc: no disponible
URL: <http://lista.oannes.org.pe/pipermail/oannes-oannes.org.pe/attachments/20190718/5774c8dd/attachment.gif>
------------ próxima parte ------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 22460 bytes
Desc: no disponible
URL: <http://lista.oannes.org.pe/pipermail/oannes-oannes.org.pe/attachments/20190718/5774c8dd/attachment-0002.jpg>
------------ próxima parte ------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image005.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 50188 bytes
Desc: no disponible
URL: <http://lista.oannes.org.pe/pipermail/oannes-oannes.org.pe/attachments/20190718/5774c8dd/attachment-0001.gif>
------------ próxima parte ------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image006.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 155873 bytes
Desc: no disponible
URL: <http://lista.oannes.org.pe/pipermail/oannes-oannes.org.pe/attachments/20190718/5774c8dd/attachment-0003.jpg>
------------ próxima parte ------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image007.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 46436 bytes
Desc: no disponible
URL: <http://lista.oannes.org.pe/pipermail/oannes-oannes.org.pe/attachments/20190718/5774c8dd/attachment-0002.gif>
------------ próxima parte ------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image008.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 43235 bytes
Desc: no disponible
URL: <http://lista.oannes.org.pe/pipermail/oannes-oannes.org.pe/attachments/20190718/5774c8dd/attachment-0004.jpg>


Más información sobre la lista de distribución OANNES