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Papers
75 resultsShowing papers from Radboud University Nijmegen
ClearCurrent trends, limitations and future research in the fungi?
This broad review of modern mycology (the study of fungi) covers emerging fungal diseases, drug discovery from fungi, genomics advances, and how fungi can be used in construction and circular economies. While not directly about microplastics, some fungi show promise for biodegrading plastic waste, making mycology research relevant to addressing microplastic pollution.
Animal migration in the Anthropocene: threats and mitigation options
This review examines the many human-caused threats facing migratory animals worldwide, including habitat loss, climate change, pollution, disease, and overexploitation. While broadly focused on wildlife conservation, the paper is relevant to microplastic research because plastic pollution is identified as one of the threats affecting migratory species across aquatic, terrestrial, and aerial environments. The review emphasizes that these threats often interact in unpredictable ways, making the combined impact worse than any single stressor alone.
One hundred priority questions for advancing seagrass conservation in Europe
European researchers identified 100 key questions that need answering to better protect seagrass ecosystems, which are underwater meadows vital for carbon storage, biodiversity, and coastal protection. While not directly about microplastics, seagrass beds act as filters that can trap microplastic pollution and are themselves threatened by it. Protecting these ecosystems could play an important role in reducing microplastic contamination in coastal waters.
International consensus guidelines for the definition, detection, and interpretation of autophagy-dependent ferroptosis
This scientific review provides guidelines for understanding a specific type of cell death called autophagy-dependent ferroptosis, where cells essentially digest their own protective components and then die from iron-driven damage. While not directly about microplastics, this process is relevant because microplastics and nanoplastics have been shown to trigger oxidative stress and iron-related cell damage in tissues. Understanding these cell death pathways helps researchers assess how plastic particle exposure could harm organs like the liver, brain, and lungs.
Tyre granulate on the loose; How much escapes the turf? A systematic literature review
Without mitigation measures, an average artificial football turf loses approximately 950 kg/year of tire rubber infill to the environment, with snow removal adding up to 830 kg/year more. The most effective reduction strategies target snow clearing, mechanical brushing, and granulate carried off by players.
Wear and Tear of Tyres: A Stealthy Source of Microplastics in the Environment
This paper compiles existing knowledge on tire wear as a major but often overlooked source of microplastics, estimating global per-person emissions at about 0.8 kilograms per year. Tire particles enter waterways, air, and soil, with an estimated 5-10% of ocean plastic pollution originating from tire wear. The study calls for increased awareness and creative solutions to address this stealthy yet substantial contributor to microplastic contamination.
Creating the Dutch One Health Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs)
Researchers developed national-scale future health scenarios for the Netherlands by combining climate change projections with socioeconomic trends, finding that societies combining low greenhouse gas emissions with strong public institutions achieve the best outcomes for human, animal, and environmental health under a "One Health" framework.
Understanding the environmental and social risks from the international trade in ornamental plants
This review examines the environmental and social risks tied to the global ornamental plant trade, including biodiversity loss, invasive species spread, pesticide use, and labor concerns. Analysis of trade interception data from the Netherlands and UK revealed contaminants and pests hitchhiking on imported plants, underscoring the need for stronger regulation of this rapidly growing international industry.
Advances in understanding of air–sea exchange and cycling of greenhouse gases in the upper ocean
This review summarizes the latest understanding of how greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane cycle between the ocean and atmosphere. Researchers found that while the ocean is well established as a major absorber of CO2 and a source of N2O, significant uncertainties remain about the processes controlling these gas distributions in the upper ocean. The study suggests that a coordinated global research effort is needed to understand how ocean warming, acidification, and deoxygenation will affect these critical gas exchanges.
Microplastic identification and quantification from organic rich sediments: A validated laboratory protocol
Researchers developed and validated a laboratory protocol for extracting, quantifying, and identifying microplastics from organic-rich sediments with fine grain sizes. The study addressed the challenge of analyzing microplastics in contamination hotspots like harbors and estuaries, where high organic content makes extraction difficult, and provided a cost-effective integrated method for more reliable environmental monitoring.
What are sustainable plastics? A review of interrelated problems and solutions to help avoid unintended consequences
This review takes a holistic look at what makes plastics truly sustainable, examining the full lifecycle from raw materials to disposal. The study suggests that many proposed solutions, like bioplastics or improved recycling, may solve one problem while creating another, and calls for better coordination across the entire plastics value chain to avoid unintended consequences.
Microplastics in coastal areas and seafood: implications for food safety
This review summarizes research on microplastic contamination in coastal waters and seafood, examining the potential risks of dietary exposure for humans. Researchers found that while microplastics have been detected in many commercially important fish and shellfish species, toxicological data remain limited and risk assessments are complicated by inconsistent analytical methods. The study concludes that more standardized exposure and toxicity data are needed before reliable food safety standards for microplastics in seafood can be established.
The urgent need for microbiology literacy in society
This paper argues that society urgently needs better microbiology literacy to make informed decisions about issues ranging from public health to environmental management. Researchers highlight that microbes underpin critical functions in ecosystems, human health, and the biosphere, yet public understanding of microbiology remains extremely limited. The study calls for integrating microbiology education into broader scientific literacy efforts to help individuals and policymakers make better evidence-based decisions.
Environmental bisphenol A exposure triggers trained immunity-related pathways in monocytes
Researchers discovered that environmental exposure to bisphenol A, a chemical commonly found in plastics, can trigger a process called trained immunity in human immune cells from healthy individuals. This means that even after the chemical is removed, the immune cells remain in a heightened state of activation, which could contribute to chronic inflammation. The study is among the first to show that a plastic-derived compound can reprogram the immune system in this lasting way.
Air pollution could drive global dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes
Researchers analyzed data from multiple studies worldwide and found that antibiotic resistance genes are present in atmospheric particles, suggesting that air pollution could serve as a pathway for global dissemination of antibiotic resistance. The abundance of these resistance genes in air correlated with particulate matter levels, indicating that airborne particles act as carriers. The study highlights a previously underappreciated mechanism by which antibiotic resistance could spread across geographic boundaries.
Relative importance of microplastics as a pathway for the transfer of hydrophobic organic chemicals to marine life
Researchers assessed the relative importance of microplastics as a pathway for transferring hydrophobic organic chemicals to marine life. The study suggests that while microplastics can carry high concentrations of contaminants, factors like gut surfactants, pH, and temperature influence desorption rates, and modeling indicates other exposure routes may be more significant in natural environments.
Water and health: From environmental pressures to integrated responses
This paper analyzes how water pollution, including plastic contamination, affects human health using a Drivers-Pressures-State-Impacts-Responses framework combined with a literature review. Researchers found that while the pathways from pollution sources to health impacts differ greatly for chemicals, pathogens, and plastics, the potential water management responses share remarkable similarities. The study argues that integrated water resource management can simultaneously address multiple health threats, including those posed by microplastic pollution.
Characterizing Freshwater Ecotoxicity of More Than 9000 Chemicals by Combining Different Levels of Available Measured Test Data with In Silico Predictions
Researchers developed a method combining laboratory toxicity data with computer predictions to estimate the ecological hazards of over 9,000 chemicals in freshwater environments. They found that using even limited experimental data alongside predictive models significantly improved the accuracy of environmental risk assessments. The approach could help regulators better evaluate the ecological impact of the thousands of chemicals, including plastic-related compounds, that currently lack comprehensive toxicity data.
Sediment grain size determines microplastic exposure landscapes for sandy beach macroinfauna
Researchers studied microplastic distribution across sandy beach zones to understand exposure landscapes for intertidal organisms. They found that sediment grain size, rather than beach zonation, was the primary factor determining microplastic abundance, providing important guidance for designing sampling surveys and assessing ecological risk from microplastic pollution on beaches.
Microplastic aquatic impacts included in Life Cycle Assessment
Researchers developed a method to include the environmental damage caused by microplastic pollution in standard lifecycle assessments (LCAs) — the tool companies use to measure a product's environmental footprint — and found that plastic pollution often dominated the toxicity impact scores for consumer packaging. Adding plastic pollution to these assessments could help identify where in a product's life cycle plastic losses cause the most ecological harm.
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Potential of Novel CO<sub>2</sub>-Derived Polylactic-<i>co</i>-glycolic Acid (PLGA) Plastics
This study examines the greenhouse gas reduction potential of novel polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) plastics derived from captured CO2. The research suggests that these CO2-derived biodegradable plastics could offer an alternative to conventional petroleum-based polymers with a lower carbon footprint.
A curious case: caddisfly cases built from brick and sewage overflow microplastics
Researchers collected over 1,100 caddisfly cases from three locations in the Netherlands with varying levels of urbanization and sewage overflow pollution. In the most polluted stream, more than half of all cases contained artificial materials including microplastics from sewage overflows and brick fragments from urban areas. This is the first study directly linking sewage overflow events to microplastic incorporation in caddisfly cases, raising concerns about plastic transfer through aquatic food webs.
Towards a meaningful assessment of marine ecological impacts in life cycle assessment (LCA)
Researchers reviewed how life cycle assessment (LCA) methods — used to quantify industrial environmental impact — currently lack adequate indicators for marine biodiversity loss, and identified pathways to build quantitative cause-effect models for seven major ocean stressors including plastic debris, ocean acidification, and seabed damage.
Chemical Mixtures and Multiple Stressors: Same but Different?
This review highlights the parallels between chemical mixture research and multiple stressor ecology, arguing that both fields face similar challenges in predicting joint effects and would benefit from integrated frameworks combining chemical and non-chemical stressor assessments.