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Microplastics in freshwater systems: The current status to achieve the sustainable development goals until 2030
Summary
Tiny plastic bits called microplastics are showing up in lakes and rivers everywhere, and this review of existing research shows they can harm fish, algae, and other freshwater life, causing stress, stunted growth, and reproductive problems, while also carrying along other harmful chemicals like metals and pollutants. Since these freshwater systems supply our drinking water and food (like fish), and these plastics can disrupt the ecosystems that keep water clean, this matters for human health even though more research is needed to understand the direct risks to people.
Microplastics are particles with a diameter of <5 mm that can differ in their physicochemical properties (e.g., shape, color, density, and polymer type) as well as their origin (i.e., primary, when produced in a micro‐size range for commercial purposes; secondary, if a result of the continuous fragmentation of macroplastics caused by a combination of abiotic and biotic mechanisms). Microplastics are found worldwide in freshwater systems, where they can persist and adsorb and/or release chemical compounds (e.g., metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) that may contaminate freshwater, affecting ecosystem services. Negative interactions of microplastics with several freshwater species (e.g., algae, crustaceans, fish) at the molecular and cellular level, as well as with abiotic factors, have been reported in the primary literature. Most studies were conducted in a laboratory and focused on the impacts of isolated microplastics in short‐term exposures (i.e., physical damage, growth inhibition, oxidative stress, decrease in reproductive fitness, disruption of lipid and sugar metabolism, and neurotoxicity to freshwater species; Rodrigues et al., 2019). Moreover, microplastics can alter the toxicity of organic pollutants to aquatic organisms (e.g., a mixture of microplastics and pyrene can delay pyrene‐induced fish mortality; Oliveira et al., 2013). Microplastics can also influence abiotic factors in freshwater systems, such as alterations in light penetration in sediment characteristics (e.g., pore and grain size), resulting in a reduction in available oxygen, nutrient cycling (e.g., ammonia, carbon), and primary production (Arthur & Baker, 2011).