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Tier 2
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Original research — experimental, observational, or case-control study. Direct primary evidence.
Marine & Wildlife
Remediation
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An investigation into the stability and degradation of plastics in aquatic environments using a large-scale field-deployment study
The Science of The Total Environment2024
11 citations
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Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Score: 60
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0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Olga Pantos,
Gavin Lear,
Olga Pantos,
Beatrix Theobald,
Hayden Masterton,
James H. Bridson,
Stefan D. M. Maday,
James H. Bridson,
Jessica A. Wallbank,
James H. Bridson,
François Audrézet,
Stefan D. M. Maday,
Gavin Lear,
Olga Pantos,
James H. Bridson,
James H. Bridson,
James H. Bridson,
Robert Abbel,
Olga Pantos,
Xavier Pochon,
Regis Risani,
Robert Abbel,
Gavin Lear,
James H. Bridson,
James H. Bridson,
Olga Pantos,
Olga Pantos,
Olga Pantos,
Olga Pantos,
Olga Pantos,
Olga Pantos,
Olga Pantos,
Olga Pantos,
Hayden Masterton,
Robert Abbel,
Regis Risani,
Grant L. Northcott,
Robert Abbel,
Grant L. Northcott,
Robert Abbel,
Stefan D. M. Maday,
Anastasija Zaiko,
Joanne M. Kingsbury,
Joanne M. Kingsbury,
Joanne M. Kingsbury,
James H. Bridson,
Joanne M. Kingsbury,
Dawn A. Smith,
Louise Weaver
Dawn A. Smith,
Dawn A. Smith,
Grant L. Northcott,
James H. Bridson,
Gavin Lear,
Louise Weaver
Olga Pantos,
Olga Pantos,
Dawn A. Smith,
Lloyd Donaldson,
Joanne M. Kingsbury,
Dawn A. Smith,
Grant L. Northcott,
Grant L. Northcott,
Grant L. Northcott,
Kate Parker,
Louise Weaver
Louise Weaver
Grant L. Northcott,
Grant L. Northcott,
Olga Pantos,
Olga Pantos,
Olga Pantos,
Olga Pantos,
Olga Pantos,
Olga Pantos,
James H. Bridson,
Kate Parker,
Grant L. Northcott,
Grant L. Northcott,
Louise Weaver
Jessica A. Wallbank,
Fraser Doake,
Fraser Doake,
Fraser Doake,
Kate Parker,
Grant L. Northcott,
Fraser Doake,
Fraser Doake,
Fraser Doake,
Stefan D. M. Maday,
Xavier Pochon,
Joanne M. Kingsbury,
Jessica A. Wallbank,
Olga Pantos,
Robert Abbel,
Gavin Lear,
Kate Parker,
Jessica A. Wallbank,
Hayden Masterton,
Hayden Masterton,
Olga Pantos,
Gavin Lear,
Hayden Masterton,
Joanne M. Kingsbury,
Fraser Doake,
Fraser Doake,
Dawn A. Smith,
Dawn A. Smith,
Fraser Doake,
Fraser Doake,
François Audrézet,
François Audrézet,
Louise Weaver
Hayden Masterton,
Louise Weaver
Louise Weaver
Hayden Masterton,
Stefan D. M. Maday,
Robert Abbel,
Gavin Lear,
Olga Pantos,
Gavin Lear,
Jessica A. Wallbank,
Olga Pantos,
Xavier Pochon,
Xavier Pochon,
François Audrézet,
Anastasija Zaiko,
Lloyd Donaldson,
Dawn A. Smith,
Beatrix Theobald,
Beatrix Theobald,
Beatrix Theobald,
Regis Risani,
Ross Anderson,
Regis Risani,
Maxime Barbier,
Regis Risani,
Regis Risani,
Robert Abbel,
Olga Pantos,
Ben Davy,
Robert Abbel,
Ben Davy,
Dawn A. Smith,
S. Davy,
S. Davy,
Fraser Doake,
Fraser Doake,
Gavin Lear,
Olga Pantos,
Gavin Lear,
Hayden Masterton,
François Audrézet,
François Audrézet,
Xavier Pochon,
Stefan D. M. Maday,
Jessica A. Wallbank,
Maxime Barbier,
Angelique F. Greene,
Kate Parker,
Kate Parker,
Jessica Harris,
Olga Pantos,
Grant L. Northcott,
Robert Abbel,
Louise Weaver
Louise Weaver
Summary
Scientists deployed five types of plastic at marine sites and a wastewater treatment plant in New Zealand for up to 12 months to study how they break down in real conditions. The plastics degraded much more slowly in the natural environment than under artificial UV exposure in the lab, with most showing only minor surface changes. This means lab studies may overestimate how quickly plastics fragment into microplastics, and the long persistence of intact plastics in nature presents an ongoing pollution challenge.
The fragmentation of plastic debris is a key pathway to the formation of microplastic pollution. These disintegration processes depend on the materials' physical and chemical characteristics, but insight into these interrelationships is still limited, especially under natural conditions. Five plastics of known polymer/additive compositions and processing histories were deployed in aquatic environments and recovered after six and twelve months. The polymer types used were linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), oxo-degradable LLDPE (oxoLLDPE), poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), polyamide-6 (PA6), and poly(lactic acid) (PLA). Four geographically distinct locations across Aotearoa/New Zealand were chosen: three marine sites and a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Accelerated UV-weathering under controlled laboratory conditions was also carried out to evaluate artificial ageing as a model for plastic degradation in the natural environment. The samples' physical characteristics and surface microstructures were studied for each deployment location and exposure time. The strongest effects were found for oxoLLDPE upon artificial ageing, with increased crystallinity, intense surface cracking, and substantial deterioration of its mechanical properties. However, no changes to the same extent were found after recovery of the deployed material. In the deployment environments, the chemical nature of the plastics was the most relevant factor determining their behaviours. Few significant differences between the four aquatic locations were identified, except for PA6, where indications for biological surface degradation were found only in seawater, not the WWTP. In some cases, artificial ageing reasonably mimicked the changes which some plastic properties underwent in aquatic environments, but generally, it was no reliable model for natural degradation processes. The findings from this study have implications for the understanding of the initial phases of plastic degradation in aquatic environments, eventually leading to microplastics formation. They can also guide the interpretation of accelerated laboratory ageing for the fate of aquatic plastic pollution, and for the testing of aged plastic samples.