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Data and Code for the publication 'Floodplain vegetation filters microplastics during a major Rhine flood event'
Summary
Scientists found that plants along riverbanks act like natural filters, trapping tiny pieces of plastic (called microplastics) from floodwater during a major flood in Germany. This shows that wetland plants help remove plastic pollution from water before it can travel further downstream to drinking water sources or the ocean. Protecting and restoring these natural riverside plant areas could be an important way to reduce the amount of microplastics that end up in our water supply and food chain.
The dataset contains data on meteological data, above ground biomass, deposit masses and microplastic abundances from deposits on floodplain vegetation in the floodplain Langel-Merkenich (Cologne, Germany) after the flood event 2021. They were analysed in the paper by M. Rolf, H. Laermanns, C. Laforsch, M. G. J. Löder, C. Bogner "Floodplain vegetation filters microplastics during a major Rhine flood event" (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s43591-026-00181-w) published in Microplastics and Nanoplastics. The ZIP-file contains: 5x R-Markdown files: Start with Data_read_in, Analysis_plots_sqm, Analysis_plots_g, Correlation_plots and precip_data. 1x folder: MP_datasome folders are empty, but they will be used once you run the R-Code. The R-Code is running on R4.5.2 and RStudio 2026.01.0 Build 392. If you face any issue with dataset, please let me know.