Abstract:

According to current data of the Spanish Ministry of Universities, 4,203 Master’s Degrees (MDs) were taught in Spain in the academic year 2022-23, belonging 435 to the area of Experimental Sciences. The University of La Laguna (Canary Islands, Spain) currently offers 38 MDs, among which there can be found the MD in Chemistry and the MD in Terrestrial Biodiversity and Conservation in Islands, with a duration of 1 and 1.5 years, respectively. To achieve the academic degree, each MD student must pass a subject consisting on the development of a Final Master’s Degree Project (FMDP) which can be approached as a bibliographic research or as an experimental work. In both cases a report must be written and presented in a public defence. Similar features can be found in MDs programmes in other countries; therefore, attractive proposals must be provided to satisfy the relatively high demand of FMDPs in the area of Experimental Sciences, and herein lies the significance and the current of the research in microplastics (MPs, defined as plastic particles measuring less than 5 mm in their largest dimension).

Plastics production reached 391 million tonnes in 2021, and its inefficient management has led to a worldwide pollution. Once in the environment, plastics can be degraded to generate MPs, with potential harm to ecosystems by themselves or acting as vehicles of other contaminants. The concern is magnified as MPs, due to their minuscule size, easily enter food chains, posing a threat to biodiversity. Thus, it is crucial to develop methodologies to detect MPs in living organisms, particularly wild mammals as they can act as indicators of plastic pollution in places relatively far from human activities. Under these circumstances, faecal matter analysis emerges as a non-invasive approach to assess exposure to anthropic pollutants, including MPs.

In this communication, we describe the case study of a stimulating, affordable and multipurpose experimental work focused on the determination of MPs from worldwide distributed European rabbit’s faeces. Due to the almost universal habitats occupied by these animals, their excrements are excellent bio-indicators to evaluate the scope of the anthropic micro-contamination in a specific region. In the context of the development of a FMDP, students should perform a tutor-guided bibliographic search to progressively select a sampling method, a sample treatment step and a quantification and identification protocol adapted to the features of each area and research laboratory. After that, the experimental work should be done, supported by the constant mentoring of the tutor. Finally, the final report and presentation should be prepared, yielding a FMDP with an inarguable educational and environmentalist value.

Keywords:

Postgraduate studies, project-based learning, Oryctolagus cuniculus, microplastic, faecal analysis.