Christine Knauss

Going to Bethany Beach every summer since I was born has instilled in me a love and curiosity for the ocean. However, an undergraduate course helped me develop a passion for protecting the ocean for future generations. I want to understand more about how humans are polluting our oceans and what we can do to fix this. Plastic pollution is ubiquitous across the globe and impacts a wide variety of animals including fish, sea birds, aquatic mammals, turtles, and filter feeding organisms like oysters. Oysters are very important environmentally, economically, and culturally to the Chesapeake Bay.

My research focuses on how oyster in the Chesapeake Bay are affected by ingesting plastic pollution.