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Microplastics: Solutions for a Persistent Pollutant
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This review highlights the ubiquity of microplastics across all environments — from deep oceans to alpine glaciers — and outlines interdisciplinary research efforts to understand their sources, transport pathways, ecological impacts, and potential remediation strategies.
Plastics have revolutionised human existence. Medicine, technology, agriculture and construction all rely on highly durable plastic materials. However, the enduring legacy of plastics extends far beyond our cities and towns. Everywhere we look, from the deepest parts of the oceans to alpine glaciers, we find tiny fragments called microplastics. Recently, the collaborative research centre, ‘CRC 1357 Microplastic’, at the University of Bayreuth was granted a second funding phase by the German Science Foundation, to continue their intensive research into microplastics. The CRC 1357 team studies the formation and behaviour of microplastics in the environment and their long-term effects on soils, plants, organisms, and ecosystem processes. Through their research, the University of Bayreuth will be able to contribute to ground-breaking recommendations for policy-makers, industry and society.
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A Review on Microplastics – An Indelible Ubiquitous Pollutant
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This review summarizes evidence that microplastics are ubiquitous and persistent pollutants distributed across marine, freshwater, atmospheric, and terrestrial environments, covering sources, transport pathways, ecological effects, and human health implications. The authors emphasize that microplastic contamination now represents a permanent feature of global ecosystems requiring urgent regulatory response.
Sources, impacts and management of microplastics
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This review summarises recent research on the sources, environmental impacts, and management strategies for microplastic pollution. Researchers find that while progress has been made in documenting contamination, universal strategies for prevention and cleanup remain underdeveloped and require further research.
A critical review on occurrence, distribution, environmental impacts and biodegradation of microplastics
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This review provides a broad overview of microplastic pollution, covering where these particles come from, how they spread through terrestrial and aquatic environments, and their effects on ecosystems. Researchers found that microplastics are now present in virtually every environment studied worldwide, from deep oceans to mountain soils. The study highlights biodegradation by microorganisms as a promising but still underdeveloped approach for addressing microplastic contamination.
Overview of microplastics in the environment: type, source, potential effects and removal strategies
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This review examines microplastic types, sources, and health effects across land and marine environments, discussing remediation technologies and emphasizing the need for international cooperation to address this global pollution challenge.
Microplastic Pollution in the Environment
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This review examines the ubiquitous presence of microplastics as emerging environmental pollutants across all major environmental compartments, synthesizing data on their sources, fates, and concentrations over time and space to characterize the scale of global contamination.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.