Akaike Information Criterion on small sample size (AICc) for competing models ranked from most to least parsimonious with area, site, and mesh size as independent variables to explain the sum of microplastic particles combined and subsetted for fiber and fragments.

Summary

Researchers used Akaike Information Criterion corrected for small sample size (AICc) to rank competing statistical models explaining total microplastic counts, fiber counts, and fragment counts in the St. Lawrence River and Estuary, with area, site, and mesh size as independent variables. This model comparison framework identified the most parsimonious predictors of microplastic abundance across 61 sampling sites.