Gloria Gao

Area of study / field of expertise
Ecotoxicology, microplastic pollution

Previous education
Bachelor of Science (Honours), University of Toronto

Gloria is currently pursuing a joint PhD between the University of Melbourne and the University of Toronto, with a focus on chemical additives from microplastics on terrestrial ecosystems. The project aims to determine the current levels of compounds from tire wear particles, namely 6PPD and 6PPD-quinone, in soil. Recently, 6PPD-quinone was found to be highly toxic in coho salmon and other aquatic species, however information on the impacts on terrestrial species is limited. The impacts of 6PPD on various soil invertebrates will also be investigated to fill in these knowledge gaps.

Her previous work involved determining the fate and occurrence of microplastic pollution at the University of Toronto. She developed a method to distinguish between sources of polystyrene foam in the Great Lakes, which has been published in ACS ES&T Water. During her undergraduate degree, she investigated the natural history and frequency of abnormalities in a population of spotted salamanders.

Read more about the joint PhD between the University of Melbourne and the University of Toronto.

Publications

Gao, G. H. Y., Moldowan, P. D., LeGros, D. L., Sahar, M., Tattersall, G. J., & Rollinson, N. (2024). Frequency of adult amphibian abnormalities and consequences for fitness-related traits in an uncontaminated environment. Canadian Journal of Zoology, cjz-2024-0063.

Langenfeld, D., Bucci, K., Veneruzzo, C., McNamee, R., Gao, G.H.Y., Rochman, C. M., Rennie, M. D., Hoffman, M. J., Orihel, D. M., Provencher, J. F., Higgins, S. N., & Paterson, M. J. (2024). Microplastics at Environmentally Relevant Concentrations Had Minimal Impacts on Pelagic Zooplankton Communities in a Large In-Lake Mesocosm Experiment. Environmental Science & Technology, 58(43), 19419.

Rochman, C. M., Bucci, K., Langenfeld, D., McNamee, R., Veneruzzo, C., Covernton, G. A., Gao, G. H. Y., Ghosh, M., Cable, R. N., Hermabessiere, L., Lazcano, R., Paterson, M. J., Rennie, M. D., Rooney, R. C., Helm, P., Duhaime, M. B., Hoellein, T., Jeffries, K. M., Hoffman, M. J., … Provencher, J. F. (2024). Informing the Exposure Landscape: The Fate of Microplastics in a Large Pelagic In-Lake Mesocosm Experiment. Environmental Science & Technology, 58(18), 7998–8008.

Gao, G. H. Y., Helm, P., Baker, S., & Rochman, C. M. (2023). Bromine Content Differentiates between Construction and Packaging Foams as Sources of Plastic and Microplastic Pollution. ACS ES&T Water, acsestwater.2c00628.

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