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Transport Process of Microplastics from Terrestrial to Aquatic Environment: Evaluation of the Current Knowledge
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Researchers reviewed how microplastics travel from terrestrial sources — including agriculture, urban runoff, and atmospheric deposition — into rivers, lakes, and ultimately the ocean, synthesizing current knowledge on transport mechanisms and knowledge gaps. Understanding land-to-water transport pathways is critical for identifying where interventions can most effectively reduce the flow of plastics into aquatic ecosystems and human food sources.
Since the first plastic production at an industrial scale in the 1950s, the importance of plastics in our lives and their production have continued to increase daily. Most of the studies focused on plastic debris accumulation in the marine environment. However,...
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Transport Mechanism of Microplastic in the Environment
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This review described the physical and chemical mechanisms by which microplastics are transported through air, water, and soil — including atmospheric deposition, hydrological flow, bioturbation, and biofouling — that collectively explain their detection in remote environments from Arctic sea ice to mountain summits. Elucidating these transport mechanisms reveals that no geographic location or ecosystem is isolated from microplastic contamination, underscoring the inevitability of human exposure through air, water, and food globally.
Emergence of Microplastics in the Aquatic Ecosystems: Sources and Their Characteristics
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Researchers reviewed the sources, physical and chemical characteristics, and environmental distribution of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems, covering both primary particles from industrial and personal care products and secondary particles generated through fragmentation of larger plastics. Understanding the diversity of particle sources and properties is foundational for modeling exposure pathways and predicting which ecosystems and human populations face the greatest contamination risk.
Advancement and Challenges of Microplastic Pollution in the Aquatic Environment: a Review
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Microplastics are now found throughout freshwater and marine environments worldwide, from surface waters to deep-sea sediments, carrying toxic chemicals and posing biotoxicity risks to aquatic organisms, yet sampling and identification methods remain inconsistent across studies. Standardizing detection protocols is urgently needed to accurately assess the full scope of microplastic contamination and its threats to aquatic ecosystems and human health via food and water.
Source and Transport of Microplastics in Freshwater Systems in Asia—A Systematic Review
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Researchers systematically reviewed the literature on microplastic sources and transport pathways in freshwater systems across Asia, finding that plastic pollution in rivers and lakes is a rapidly growing concern across the region with increasing published evidence.
Release of Microplastics by Terrestrial Sources into Freshwater Environments
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This chapter examines how terrestrial sources—including stormwater runoff, agricultural activities, and wastewater treatment plants—release microplastics into freshwater systems. Identifying and controlling these land-based inputs is critical because rivers and lakes are not just reservoirs of plastic pollution but also sources of drinking water and irrigation for human populations.
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