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Editorial: Early Career Scientists’ Contributions to River Plastic Monitoring Across Scales
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This editorial introduces a journal section dedicated to research by early-career scientists on river plastic monitoring across scales. River plastic monitoring is underdeveloped compared to marine monitoring, despite rivers being the main pathway for land-based plastics to reach the sea. The editorial highlights the importance of scale-appropriate monitoring approaches for rivers.
Plastic pollution in aquatic ecosystems (rivers, lakes, estuaries, and oceans) is of growing global concern, because of its negative impact on environmental health, and human livelihood. Rivers are assumed to be one of the main transport pathways for land-based plastics from source to sea (Meijer et al., 2021). Yet, observations and understanding of riverine plastics are scarce in comparison to the marine environment. To optimize plastic pollution prevention, mitigation and reduction strategies, as well as reliable data on plastic abundance, transport, and types are crucial. However, a lack of consistent and long-term observations limits our ability to monitor plastics in aquatic ecosystems. Recent advances in both cost-effective and high-tech measurement methods, that promote method standardization and harmonization, may be key to tackle plastic pollution (UNEP, 2020). This Research Topic bridges the gap between 1) macro- and microplastics, 2) fundamental research and development of long-term monitoring strategies, 3) in situ and remote sensing observations, and 4) observation-based modelling approaches to link scales and ecosystems.
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Editorial: Contributions to river plastic monitoring across scales, volume II
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This editorial introduces a collection of studies on river plastic monitoring across spatial scales, highlighting the complexity of riverine plastic transport as influenced by plastic properties including type, size, shape, and density. The editorial synthesizes themes across the volume II contributions, emphasizing the need for multi-scale monitoring approaches to understand plastic fluxes from terrestrial sources to the ocean.
Comparison of the macro-, meso- and microplastic pollution in French riverbanks and beaches using citizen science with schoolchildren
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Researchers conducted a citizen science initiative with French schoolchildren to compare macro-, meso-, and microplastic pollution across 86 riverbank and beach sites, finding that riverbanks accumulated distinct plastic assemblages compared to beaches. The study demonstrated that schoolchildren can generate reliable comparative litter data, and highlighted rivers as underrepresented yet critical plastic transport pathways to the ocean.
A catchment‐scale perspective of plastic pollution
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This review framed plastic pollution from a catchment-scale perspective, synthesizing evidence on plastic sources, transport dynamics, and effects across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments within river drainage basins. The authors find that rivers are hotspots for plastic pollution and pivotal conduits to the ocean, and call for integrated catchment-level management rather than environment-by-environment approaches.
Evaluation of riverine macro- and mesoplastic monitoring approaches.
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This review evaluated and compared existing monitoring approaches for riverine macro- and mesoplastics, identifying key methodological inconsistencies that limit cross-study comparisons and calling for standardization to improve understanding of plastic transport and accumulation in freshwater river systems.
Comparison of macrolitter and meso- and microplastic pollution on French riverbanks and coastal beaches using citizen science with schoolchildren
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A citizen science project with 3,113 French schoolchildren sampled 81 riverbanks and 66 coastal beaches, collecting 55,986 plastic pieces, and found that riverbanks had comparable plastic pollution levels to beaches, highlighting rivers as underrecognized plastic accumulation zones.
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