The Benthic Ecology Laboratory at UNT conducted several large-scale studies to determine how urbanization and watershed characteristics affect the population and diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates from six urban ponds in Denton, TX. My portion of this project will be to determine the concentration of microplastics present in these urban ponds. My goal is to refine and implement the new practices for extracting microplastics in freshwater ecosystems.