Marine Scotland Science: directory

Dr Marie Russell

Environment Monitoring and Assessment Programme
Marine Environment Assessment Group
Senior Environmental Scientist

E-mail: Marie.Russell@gov.scot

Marine Scotland Science, Marine Laboratory, 375 Victoria Road, Aberdeen, AB11 9DB, UK

Details of specialism

My interests are in marine litter generally but specialising in the study of microplastics in Scotland’s marine environment. I am also interested in the potential for micro-plastics to adsorb, concentrate and transport contaminants in the marine environment.

Within the broad topic area my particular focusses are on:

• monitoring microplastics in the sea surface
• development of monitoring methods for microplastics in sediments and fish
• working with ICES data manager to facilitate import of microplastic data to ICES database

Main policy links

• marine conservation
• clean seas
• marine litter
• microplastics

External committees and responsibilities

• ICES Working Group on Marine Litter
• OSPAR Intersessional Group on Marine Litter
• member of the OSPAR Microplastic Expert Group, which is working on the methodology to monitor microplastics in sediments

Papers of relevance

Russell M and Webster L (2021 - in press). Microplastics in Scotland’s seas. Marine Pollution Bulletin.

Nalbone L, Panebianco A, Giarratana F and Russell M (in prep). Nile Red staining for detecting microplastics in biota: preliminary evidence.

Murphy F, Russell M, Ewins C and Quinn B (2017) The uptake of macroplastic & microplastic by demersal & pelagic fish in the Northeast Atlantic around Scotland. Marine Pollution Bulletin 122(1-2), 353-359.

Russell M and Webster L (2016) Distribution and composition of microplastics in Scotland’s seas. In Baztan J, Jorgensen B, Pahl S, Thompson RC and Vanderlinden J-P (Eds) (2017) MICRO 2016. Fate and impact of microplastics in marine ecosystems: from the coastline to the open sea. Elsevier. pp 46-47.