Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Utilizing aquatic environmental DNA to address global biodiversity targets

This review explores how environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis from water samples can help monitor aquatic biodiversity and track ecosystem health. While not directly about microplastics, eDNA technology is increasingly being adapted to study how plastic pollution affects aquatic ecosystems and species diversity. Better biodiversity monitoring tools help scientists understand the broader ecological impacts of microplastic contamination on the water systems that support human food and resources.

2025 Nature Reviews Biodiversity 35 citations
Article Tier 2

Harnessing environmental DNA: revolutionizing holistic monitoring of aquatic biodiversity for fishery management under the One Health framework

This review paper examines a new monitoring technique called environmental DNA (eDNA) that can detect fish and other water creatures by testing water samples for genetic material they leave behind. Scientists believe this tool could help better manage fish populations and protect both ocean health and human food security, since healthy fisheries provide food for billions of people worldwide. However, the technology still needs improvements before it can be widely used to make decisions about fishing limits and water safety.

2026 Frontiers in Marine Science
Article Tier 2

Enhanced eDNA Recovery from Microplastic-Polluted Freshwater Systems Using Surfactant-Assisted Bead-Beating with Enzymatic Digestion

Researchers developed an improved eDNA recovery method combining surfactant-assisted bead-beating with enzymatic digestion to overcome the interference caused by microplastic pollution in freshwater biodiversity monitoring. The approach significantly enhanced eDNA retrieval from contaminated water bodies where conventional methods underperform.

2025 Natural and Engineering Sciences
Article Tier 2

Current Status of Omics in Biological Quality Elements for Freshwater Biomonitoring

This review examines how advanced molecular techniques like DNA barcoding, environmental DNA analysis, and metagenomics are being applied to freshwater biomonitoring alongside traditional biological assessment methods. Researchers found that these omics-based approaches can provide faster, more comprehensive biodiversity assessments than conventional methods, but significant challenges remain in standardizing protocols and interpreting results. The study highlights how these tools could improve the detection of ecosystem impacts from emerging threats including microplastic pollution.

2023 Biology 19 citations
Article Tier 2

Forensics Meets Ecology – Environmental DNA Offers New Capabilities for Marine Ecosystem and Fisheries Research

This review describes how environmental DNA (eDNA) tools are expanding capabilities for marine ecosystem monitoring and fisheries research, enabling non-invasive detection of species presence, biodiversity assessment, and tracking of human impacts across large ocean areas.

2021 Frontiers in Marine Science 17 citations
Article Tier 2

Application of Environmental DNA in the Air for Monitoring Biodiversity

This review examines the use of airborne environmental DNA as a non-invasive tool for monitoring biodiversity across multiple species groups simultaneously. While focused on biodiversity monitoring methodology, the study contributes to understanding how atmospheric sampling techniques can be used to track biological and environmental changes, including the presence of airborne contaminants.

2025 Sustainability 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Exploitation of environmental DNA (eDNA) for ecotoxicological research: A critical review on eDNA metabarcoding in assessing marine pollution

This review examines how environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis -- a method that detects organisms through DNA traces left in water -- can be used to monitor the effects of marine pollution, including plastic waste. While eDNA does not detect plastics directly, it reveals how pollution changes the biodiversity of marine communities, serving as an early warning system. The approach could help scientists better track the ecological damage caused by microplastic contamination in oceans.

2024 Chemosphere 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental DNA in an Ocean of Change: Status, Challenges and Prospects

This review examines the status, challenges, and prospects of environmental DNA (eDNA) research in marine systems, surveying literature on metazoan eDNA studies to assess progress in detecting species distributions, biodiversity, and biomass, and highlighting future opportunities including marine time series, population genetics, natural sampler DNA, and eDNA-based trophic network reconstruction.

2022 Arquivos de Ciências do Mar 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Adsorption and Protection of Environmental DNA (eDNA) on Polymer and Silica Surfaces

Environmental DNA (eDNA) was found to adsorb onto and be protected by plastic particles in water, meaning microplastics can preserve genetic material shed by aquatic organisms. This has dual implications: microplastics may interfere with eDNA-based biodiversity monitoring while also potentially serving as DNA carriers in ecosystems.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: A Review of Methodology for Sampling and Characterizing Environmental and Biological Samples

This review examines the range of methodologies available for sampling and characterising environmental microplastics, highlighting how variability in collection, separation, detection, and identification procedures limits cross-study comparisons and discussing how complementary technique combinations can improve standardisation and data quality.

2021 Methods in molecular biology 6 citations
Article Tier 2

A review of methods for measuring microplastics in aquatic environments

This review critically evaluates methods used to measure microplastics in aquatic environments, covering sampling design, sample processing, and spectroscopic identification, and identifies the most significant sources of methodological variation. Standardizing these methods is essential for generating comparable data across studies and enabling robust environmental risk assessment.

2018 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 361 citations
Review Tier 2

In-situ detection of microplastics in the aquatic environment: A systematic literature review

This systematic review evaluates emerging technologies for detecting microplastics directly in water environments without needing to collect samples and bring them to a lab. Developing reliable in-situ detection methods is important because current lab-based approaches are slow and expensive, making it difficult to track where microplastics are concentrated in the water systems that supply drinking water and seafood.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 38 citations
Article Tier 2

Insights in Pharmaceutical Pollution: The Prospective Role of eDNA Metabarcoding

This review explored how environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding can serve as a prospective tool for monitoring the biological impacts of pharmaceutical pollution on aquatic ecosystems, complementing traditional chemical-based monitoring approaches.

2023 Toxics 19 citations
Article Tier 2

Are We Underestimating Microplastic Contamination in Aquatic Environments?

This review argues that current microplastic monitoring methods likely underestimate the true extent of contamination in aquatic environments, especially for small particles and fibers. The authors call for standardized, more sensitive detection methods to better inform regulation and risk assessment.

2017 Environmental Management 277 citations
Article Tier 2

Viral Eco-Genomic Tools: Development and Implementation for Aquatic Biomonitoring

This review provides a comprehensive overview of eco-genomic tools for detecting enteric viruses in aquatic environments, covering conventional and next-generation sequencing approaches. The authors recommend integrating multiple detection platforms and conducting year-round sampling to accurately assess waterborne virus burdens.

2022 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental DNA: The First Snapshot of the Vertebrate Biodiversity in Three Sicilian Lakes

Researchers applied environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding to characterise vertebrate biodiversity in three Sicilian freshwater lakes, providing the first systematic snapshot of fish and other vertebrate communities in these understudied ecosystems. The study demonstrated that eDNA surveys can detect species assemblages efficiently and non-invasively in lakes subject to anthropogenic pressures.

2023 Animals 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Disparities in Methods Used to Determine Microplastics in the Aquatic Environment: A Review of Legislation, Sampling Process and Instrumental Analysis

This review examined the wide disparities in sampling, processing, and analytical methods used across microplastic studies, highlighting how inconsistent approaches make it difficult to compare results and calling for standardized international protocols and regulatory frameworks.

2021 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 45 citations
Article Tier 2

Evaluating bioinformatics pipelines for population‐level inference using environmental DNA

Researchers evaluated twelve bioinformatics pipelines for their ability to reliably infer intraspecific genetic variability from environmental DNA samples, finding that amplification and sequencing errors can substantially inflate estimates of genetic diversity. The study provides guidance on pipeline selection for population-level eDNA analysis.

2022 Environmental DNA 26 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in aquatic systems: An in-depth review of current and potential water treatment processes

This review provides a detailed examination of microplastic contamination in aquatic systems and evaluates current and emerging water treatment technologies for their removal. Researchers assessed methods ranging from conventional coagulation and filtration to advanced techniques like membrane bioreactors and electrochemical processes. The study concludes that while no single technology fully eliminates microplastics, combining multiple treatment approaches offers the most promising path forward.

2024 Chemosphere 10 citations
Article Tier 2

From Sampling to Analysis: A Critical Review of Techniques Used in the Detection of Micro- and Nanoplastics in Aquatic Environments

This critical review evaluates the full analytical workflow for detecting micro- and nanoplastics in aquatic environments, from field sampling to laboratory identification. Researchers assess the strengths and limitations of current techniques including visual sorting, spectroscopic methods, and thermal analysis. The study emphasizes the urgent need for standardized protocols across the research community to ensure that microplastic pollution data are reliable and comparable between studies.

2021 ACS ES&T Water 52 citations
Article Tier 2

Study of Advanced Techniques for Inquisition, Segregation and Removal of Microplastics from Water Streams: Current Insights and Future Directions

This review surveys the full toolkit of methods used to detect, separate, and remove microplastics from water and wastewater, covering spectroscopic, microscopic, and chromatographic detection alongside physical, chemical, and biological removal strategies. It highlights that no single approach is sufficient and that combining methods — including emerging microfluidic and enzymatic techniques — will be necessary to effectively tackle microplastic contamination in water systems.

2024 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology (IJISRT) 2 citations
Article Tier 2

A Practical Overview of Methodologies for Sampling and Analysis of Microplastics in Riverine Environments

This practical review compiles and evaluates sampling and analytical methods for detecting and characterizing microplastics in rivers, including collection devices, extraction protocols, and spectroscopic identification techniques. It provides guidance for researchers designing monitoring studies to ensure reliable and comparable results.

2020 Sustainability 205 citations
Article Tier 2

Aquatic Microplastic Research—A Critique and Suggestions for the Future

This critical review argues that microplastic research lacks standardized collection and analysis methods, making it impossible to compare data across studies. The author calls for chemical identification of polymer types, whole-water sampling, and a focus on ecological impacts rather than just documenting presence.

2020 Water 49 citations
Article Tier 2

Advancing River Health Assessments: Integrating Microscopy and Molecular Techniques through Diatom Indices

This review explored how traditional microscopy-based diatom assessments for river water quality can be enhanced by integrating environmental DNA techniques. The study suggests that combining molecular methods with established diatom indices offers faster, more comprehensive evaluations of river ecosystem health, though challenges remain in standardizing these newer approaches.

2024 Water 4 citations