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Environmental Sources
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Microplastics and their possible sources: The example of Ofanto river in southeast Italy
Environmental Pollution2019
353 citations
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Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Score: 50
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0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Friederike Stock,
Friederike Stock,
Friederike Stock,
Claudia Campanale,
Claudia Campanale,
Claudia Campanale,
Claudia Campanale,
Claudia Campanale,
Claudia Campanale,
Claudia Campanale,
Claudia Campanale,
Claudia Campanale,
Claudia Campanale,
Claudia Campanale,
Friederike Stock,
Claudia Campanale,
Friederike Stock,
Claudia Campanale,
Claudia Campanale,
Carmine Massarelli,
Carmine Massarelli,
Carmine Massarelli,
Carmine Massarelli,
Carmine Massarelli,
Georg Reifferscheid
Georg Reifferscheid
Georg Reifferscheid
Carmine Massarelli,
Carmine Massarelli,
Friederike Stock,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Claudia Campanale,
Claudia Campanale,
Claudia Campanale,
Claudia Campanale,
Friederike Stock,
Claudia Campanale,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Friederike Stock,
Friederike Stock,
Claudia Campanale,
Giuseppe Bagnuolo,
Giuseppe Bagnuolo,
Christian Kochleus,
Christian Kochleus,
Christian Kochleus,
Christian Kochleus,
Georg Reifferscheid
Giuseppe Bagnuolo,
Friederike Stock,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Friederike Stock,
Friederike Stock,
Friederike Stock,
Friederike Stock,
Carmine Massarelli,
Carmine Massarelli,
Carmine Massarelli,
Carmine Massarelli,
Carmine Massarelli,
Carmine Massarelli,
Georg Reifferscheid
Georg Reifferscheid
Christian Kochleus,
Giuseppe Bagnuolo,
Giuseppe Bagnuolo,
Giuseppe Bagnuolo,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Friederike Stock,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Carmine Massarelli,
Friederike Stock,
Georg Reifferscheid
Giuseppe Bagnuolo,
Georg Reifferscheid
Carmine Massarelli,
Carmine Massarelli,
Christian Kochleus,
Carmine Massarelli,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Giuseppe Bagnuolo,
Carmine Massarelli,
Christian Kochleus,
Christian Kochleus,
Friederike Stock,
Carmine Massarelli,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Giuseppe Bagnuolo,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Friederike Stock,
Georg Reifferscheid
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Georg Reifferscheid
Georg Reifferscheid
Giuseppe Bagnuolo,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Georg Reifferscheid
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Georg Reifferscheid
Friederike Stock,
Georg Reifferscheid
Christian Kochleus,
Georg Reifferscheid
Georg Reifferscheid
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Georg Reifferscheid
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Friederike Stock,
Carmine Massarelli,
Georg Reifferscheid
Friederike Stock,
Friederike Stock,
Friederike Stock,
Vito Felice Uricchio,
Georg Reifferscheid
Georg Reifferscheid
Georg Reifferscheid
Georg Reifferscheid
Summary
Microplastics were surveyed in the Ofanto River in southeast Italy—the first such study in this region—characterizing abundance and composition in banks, surface waters, and sediments and identifying multiple potential input sources including agricultural runoff and urban waste. The study demonstrates that this major Italian river is contaminated with microplastics and transports them toward the Adriatic Sea.
Study Type
Environmental
Monitoring studies have quantified microscopic plastic debris, so-called microplastics, in freshwater systems, including banks, surface waters and sediments. However, there is a lack of knowledge of freshwater and terrestrial environments. When microplastics are released in freshwater environments, they will be transported and will not remain stationary. Moreover, their transport from sink to source (land-based to river systems) may depend on several factors such as weather conditions and river hydrology. The present study aims to investigate the abundance and composition of microplastics in the most important river of Apulia Region (Southeast Italy) evaluating the main drivers and possible input sources of microplastic debris. The following work is the first study showing an Italian river context. For this research five sampling campaigns have been conducted west of the Ofanto river mouth. Microplastics were collected by three surface plankton nets fixed in the middle of the river in order to reduce the spatial and temporal variability. For each campaign, a total of six replicates were sampled during two time slots. Microplastic concentrations ranged from 0.9 ± 0.4 p/m to 13 ± 5 p/m showing comparable values to or greater than those ones reported in other studies. A statistically significant difference in the average microplastic concentrations in different campaigns of this study has been observed, suggesting thus a temporal variation in plastic abundances. These significant differences could be explained by the hydrology of the river that influences the particle concentration with its physical forces such as flow velocity, water level and seasonal variability. Microplastics were found at higher concentrations during wet periods indicating a land-based origin probably connected to waste produced by the surroundings agricultural areas. In fact, Spearman's correlation results show a strong positive statistically significant correlation between the concentration of microplastics and the water level (R = 0.8475, p < 0.0001).