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A comparative review of microplastics in lake systems from different countries and regions
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Researchers reviewed microplastic contamination data from lake systems across multiple countries, finding that abundance, size, and polymer type varied widely by region and identifying land use, population density, and hydrological connectivity as key drivers of lake microplastic levels.
Microplastics, as defined here as plastics with a diameter of <5 mm, can impose severely detrimental impacts on the environment and can now be commonly found in different water bodies. To date, the status of microplastics in limnic systems, which have different hydrologic systems compared to other water bodies such as oceans or rivers, has rarely been reviewed. In the present study, the microplastic pollutants in different countries and regions were comparatively investigated in terms of their abundances, morphologies, and polymer types in the water and sediments of lakes. The concentration and characteristics of microplastics were found to be largely different across countries and regions, which was related to the local development level and economic structure. The migration paths of microplastics in the inner and external limnic ecosystems further revealed the causes for the regional divergence in microplastics. Policy developments in different countries and regions were also discussed to highlight the urgency of better controlling microplastic pollution in lake systems. The characteristics of microplastics vary across countries and regions, depending on the local development level and economic structure.
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