Large-scale Citizen Science Monitoring in Lakes: Tea Time 4Lakes and Microplastics

NETLAKE launched a large-scale Citizen Science monitoring program in 2016 across 28 lakes in Europe. The monitoring program is focused on two lake research topics: decomposition of organic matter and plastics. One project, known as Tea Time for 4Lakes, involves the use of tea bags to understand decomposition of allochthonous litter in lakes across Europe. Another project uses homemade sampling equipment made of ordinary household objects like a spaghetti strainer and panty hose to study microplastics in European Lakes. These projects were pilot-tested in 2015 and opened up to GLEON's global network in 2016.