Dr. Sonja Ehlers
Dr. Sonja Ehlers is the co-head of the International Baltic Earth Secretariat at IOW. She is a biologist with a background in zoology, animal ecology, marine biology and plastic pollution research. Dr. Ehlers did her PhD and postdoc at the German Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG, Koblenz, Germany) where she investigated the effects of microplastics on freshwater and marine animals and the occurrence of plastic pollution in remote regions such as Antarctic deep-sea sediments and rocky intertidal habitats. She analyzed microplastics in harbour porpoises from the North Sea and the Baltic Sea as well as in marine intertidal snails. Afterwards, she worked at the Alfred-Wegener-Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) on Helgoland island, Germany, where she led a microplastic monitoring project in Schleswig-Holstein. For her master’s thesis in marine ecology Dr. Ehlers investigated nonconsumptive effects of predatory dogwhelks on blue mussel recruitment on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, at Saint Francis Xavier University.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4237-4233
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sonja-Ehlers
S. M. Ehlers & J. A. Ellrich (2024) Does foil-like debris impair barnacles by covering them? Marine Pollution Bulletin 207:116895 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2024.116895
S. M. Ehlers & J. A. Ellrich (2024) Bitumen-based plastitar: a novel plastic form variant in terrestrial environments. Frontiers in Environmental Science 12:1437437 https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2024.1437437
S. M. Ehlers, J. A. Ellrich & I. Gestoso (2024) Editorial: New plastic pollution types and novel sources of microplastic pollution in marine systems. Frontiers in Marine Science https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1372876
J. A. Ellrich, S. M. Ehlers & S. Furukuma (2023) Plastitar records in marine coastal environments worldwide from 1973 to 2023. Frontiers in Marine Science https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1297150
J. A. Ellrich, S. M. Ehlers, S. Furukuma, B. Pogoda & J. H. E. Koop (2023) Characterization of three plastic forms: Plasticoncrete, plastimetal and plastisessiles. Science of the Total Environment 895, 165073 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165073
R. Álvarez-Troncoso, D. Gutiérrez, I. Villar, S. M. Ehlers, B. Soto, S. Mato & J. Garrido (2023) Microplastics in water, sediments and macroinvertebrates in a small river of NW Spain. Limnetica 43(2): 000-000 (2024). DOI: 10.23818/limn.43.13
J. A. Ellrich, S. Furukuma, S. M. Ehlers (2023) Plasticrust generation and degeneration in rocky intertidal habitats contribute to microplastic pollution. Science of the Total Environment 876, 162787 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162787
S. Furukuma, J. A. Ellrich, S. M. Ehlers (2022) Frequent observations of novel plastic forms in the Ariho River estuary, Honshu, Japan. Science of the Total Environment 848, 157638 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157638
E. M. Cunningham, S. M. Ehlers, K. Kiriakoulakis, P. Schuchert, Nia H. Jones, L. Kregting, L. C. Woodall, Jamie T. A. Dick (2022) The accumulation of microplastic pollution in a commercially important fishing ground. Scientific Reports 12, 4217 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08203-2
J. A. Ellrich & S. M. Ehlers (2022) Field observations in pebble beach habitats link plastiglomerate to pyroplastic via pebble clasts. Marine Pollution Bulletin 174: 113187 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113187
S. M. Ehlers, J. A. Ellrich & J. H. E. Koop (2022) Microplastic load and polymer type composition in European rocky intertidal snails: Consistency across locations, wave exposure and years. Environmental Pollution 292: 118280 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118280
S. M. Ehlers, J. A. Ellrich & I. Gestoso (2021) Plasticrusts derive from maritime ropes scouring across raspy rocks. Marine Pollution Bulletin 172: 112841 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112841
C. Philipp, B. Unger, S. M. Ehlers, J. H. E. Koop, U. Siebert (2021) First evidence of retrospective findings of microplastics in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from German waters. Frontiers in Marine Science https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.682532
S. M. Ehlers, T. Al Najjar & J. H. E. Koop (2021) Wrapped up in plastic. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2303
I. Pojar, C. Kochleus, G. Dierkes, S. M. Ehlers, G. Reifferscheid, F. Stock (2021) Quantitative and qualitative evaluation of plastic particles in surface waters of the Western Black Sea. Environmental Pollution 268, Part A, 115724 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115724
E. M. Cunningham, S. M. Ehlers, J. T. A. Dick, J. D. Sigwart, K. Linse, J. J. Dick, K. Kiriakoulakis (2020) High abundances of microplastic pollution in deep-sea sediments: Evidence from Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Environmental Science & Technology 54, 21, 13661–13671 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c03441
S. M. Ehlers, T. Al Najjar, T. Taupp & J. H. E. Koop (2020) PVC and PET microplastics in caddisfly (Lepidostoma basale) cases reduce case stability. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 27: 22380–22389 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08790-5
E. O. Akindele, S. M. Ehlers & J. H. E. Koop (2020) Freshwater insects of different feeding guilds ingest microplastics in two Gulf of Guinea tributaries in Nigeria. Environmental Science and Pollution Research https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08763-8
S. M. Ehlers & J. A. Ellrich (2020) First record of 'plasticrusts' and 'pyroplastic' from the Mediterranean Sea. Marine Pollution Bulletin 151: 110845 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110845
S. M. Ehlers, J. Maxein & J. H. E. Koop (2020) Low-cost microplastic visualization in feeding experiments using an ultraviolet light-emitting flashlight. Ecological Research 35: 265-273 https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1703.12080
N. Peez, J. Becker, S. M. Ehlers, M. Fritz, C. B. Fischer, J. H. E. Koop, C. Winkelmann & W. Imhof (2019) Quantitative analysis of PET microplastics in environmental model samples using quantitative 1H-NMR spectroscopy: Validation of an optimized and consistent sample clean-up method. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-019-02089-2
E. O. Akindele, S. M. Ehlers & J. H. E. Koop (2019) First empirical study of freshwater microplastics in West Africa using gastropods from Nigeria as bioindicators. Limnologica 78: 125708 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.limno.2019.125708
S. M. Ehlers, W. Manz & J. H. E. Koop (2019) Microplastics of different characteristics are incorporated into the larval cases of the freshwater caddisfly Lepidostoma basale. Aquatic Biology 28: 67-77 https://doi.org/10.3354/ab00711
S. M. Ehlers, R. A. Scrosati & J. A. Ellrich (2018) Nonconsumptive predator effects on prey demography: dogwhelk cues decrease benthic mussel recruitment. Journal of Zoology 305: 240-245 https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.12555
