Papers

61,005 results
|
Article Tier 2

Occurrence Of Microplastics in Immature Aquatic Insects of Gua Musang Tributaries in Kelantan

Researchers investigated the presence and abundance of microplastics in freshwater immature aquatic insects, specifically caddisfly (Trichoptera) and dragonfly (Odonata) larvae, collected from two tributaries of Gua Musang in Kelantan, Malaysia. The study found that microplastics had accumulated in these larvae, raising concerns about microplastic transfer through aquatic food chains in the region.

2022 IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Aquatic insects as mediator for microplastics pollution in a river ecosystem of Bangladesh

Researchers found that aquatic insects in a Malaysian river ecosystem ingest microplastics and can transport them across ecosystem boundaries as the insects emerge from water to land, functioning as biological vectors that move plastic contamination from aquatic to terrestrial food webs.

2025 Scientific Reports 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Occurrence and physical characterization of microplastics in mangrove-dwelling Fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) of entotourism importance

Researchers examined microplastic contamination in mangrove-dwelling fireflies in Malaysia, finding microplastics in 50% of larvae and 14.8% of adults, representing one of the first studies of microplastic occurrence in this ecologically and culturally important insect group.

2025 IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science
Article Tier 2

Response of Odonata assemblages to disturbance in urban freshwater habitats

This paper is not about microplastics — it investigates how Odonata (dragonfly and damselfly) assemblages respond to different levels of habitat disturbance caused by urbanization in freshwater habitats in Ghana.

2024 African Journal of Ecology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Using aquatic insects as indicators of microplastic pollution in rice field ecosystems

Researchers used aquatic insect communities as bioindicators of microplastic pollution in rice field ecosystems, comparing insect diversity and abundance across fields with different levels of plastic contamination. Insect assemblages responded sensitively to microplastic loads, demonstrating their potential as low-cost monitoring tools.

2024 Ecologica Montenegrina 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Relative contributions of different local sources to riverborne microplastic in a mixed landuse area within a tropical catchment

Researchers quantified the relative contributions of different land-use sources to riverborne microplastics in a tropical catchment, providing data to help prioritize pollution reduction measures for protecting human and ecological health.

2022 Environmental Research 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of anthropogenic activities on microplastics in deposit-feeders (Diptera: Chironomidae) in an urban river of Taiwan

Researchers quantified microplastic abundance and types in midge larvae (Chironomidae) from an urban river and found that multiple anthropogenic activities including industrial discharge, agriculture, and residential runoff were associated with elevated microplastic levels in these freshwater deposit-feeders.

2021 Scientific Reports 38 citations
Article Tier 2

Freshwater insects of different feeding guilds ingest microplastics in two Gulf of Guinea tributaries in Nigeria

Scientists collected freshwater insects from two Nigerian tributaries of the Gulf of Guinea and found microplastics ingested across different feeding guilds, providing rare baseline data on microplastic contamination of African freshwater ecosystems.

2020 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 111 citations
Article Tier 2

Long-term trends in stream benthic macroinvertebrate communities are driven by chemicals

This paper is not about microplastics. It investigates long-term trends in stream macroinvertebrate communities in Germany from 2007 to 2021, finding that in-stream chemical pollution data explained about 50% of the variation in biodiversity changes over time. The study focuses on freshwater ecology and the effects of water chemistry, land use, and temperature on aquatic invertebrate diversity, with no specific focus on microplastic contamination.

2023 Environmental Sciences Europe 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Synergistic Impact of Complex Topography and Climate Variability on the Loss of Microclimate Heterogeneity in Southeast Asia

Not relevant to microplastics — this paper analyzes how topography and climate variability have driven declining microclimate heterogeneity in Southeast Asia between 1982 and 2017, with implications for regional biodiversity.

2023 Geophysical Research Letters 10 citations
Article Tier 2

The revelry of plastic! Quali-quantitative variation of microplastics in freshwater before and after Carnival in south-eastern Brazil

Researchers conducted a quali-quantitative survey of microplastics in freshwater habitats, characterizing variation in abundance, polymer type, and morphology across multiple sites and linking pollution levels to upstream land use and human activity.

2024 Marine and Freshwater Research 4 citations
Article Tier 2

The fate and ecological consequences of microplastics in non-perennial streams

This review examines the fate and ecological consequences of microplastics in non-perennial (intermittent) streams, which represent the majority of waterways globally yet have been largely overlooked in microplastic research. The authors identify key knowledge gaps around how alternating wet and dry phases affect microplastic transport, fragmentation, and accumulation, as well as impacts on organism communities in these ecosystems.

2025 theses.fr (ABES)
Article Tier 2

The need of ecohydrological research in tropical forests for healthy watersheds

This paper is not relevant to microplastics; it argues for more ecohydrological research in tropical forests to understand water cycling and watershed health.

2023 Journal of Tropical Forestry and Environment 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in freshwater sediments: Effects on benthic invertebrate communities and ecosystem functioning assessed in artificial streams

Researchers tested the effects of polyethylene microplastics on freshwater invertebrate communities in artificial streams using environmentally relevant concentrations. They found that microplastics significantly reduced the abundance of deposit-feeding and grazing organisms by 31-50%, with chironomids and mayflies showing the highest ingestion of plastic particles.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 74 citations
Article Tier 2

Seasonality can override the effects of anthropogenic activities on microplastic presence in invertebrate deposit feeders in an urban river system

Researchers investigated how anthropogenic land use and seasonality influence internal microplastic concentrations in midge larvae across an urban river watershed in Taiwan, finding that seasonality overrode land-use effects and that agricultural activity had a significant negative nonlinear relationship with microplastic accumulation.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Do microplastics and climate change negatively affect shredder invertebrates from an amazon stream? An ecosystem functioning perspective

Researchers experimentally tested the combined effects of microplastic pollution and climate change conditions on the survival and feeding behavior of an Amazonian freshwater shredder invertebrate. The study suggests that the combination of microplastic exposure with increased temperature and CO2 levels can negatively affect these organisms, with implications for leaf litter decomposition and ecosystem functioning in tropical streams.

2023 Environmental Pollution 28 citations
Article Tier 2

The Role of Landscape Configuration, Season, and Distance from Contaminant Sources on the Degradation of Stream Water Quality in Urban Catchments

A study of a Portuguese river basin found that landscape configuration and proximity to pollution point sources both affect stream macroinvertebrate communities. Macroinvertebrates are sensitive to microplastic pollution, and their decline in contaminated streams can indicate broader ecosystem degradation.

2019 Water 38 citations
Article Tier 2

Ecological traits do not predict the uptake of microplastics by fishes in a Neotropical River

Researchers found that ecological traits such as feeding guild, habitat use, and body size do not reliably predict microplastic uptake in fish species from a Neotropical river, suggesting contamination patterns are driven more by local environmental conditions than by species-specific biology.

2023
Article Tier 2

Microplastic loads within riverine fishes and macroinvertebrates are not predictable from ecological or morphological characteristics

Researchers measured microplastic loads in riverine fish and macroinvertebrates and found that particle counts were not reliably predicted by species ecology or morphology, suggesting that individual variation and local environmental factors play a larger role in microplastic ingestion than feeding guild or habitat alone.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Glitter ingestion by bromeliad-dwelling macroinvertebrates: implications for freshwater microplastic contamination

Researchers exposed macroinvertebrates living in bromeliad leaf reservoirs to glitter particles as a microplastic proxy, finding ingestion occurred across multiple taxa and that glitter persisted in the gut and environment longer than natural food particles.

2025 Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Soil Physico-chemical Properties in a Selectively Logged Forest at Gunung Rara Forest Reserve, Sabah, Malaysia

This paper is not relevant to microplastics research — it examines how different logging methods (supervised versus conventional) affect soil physical and chemical properties in a tropical rainforest reserve in Malaysia.

2023 Journal of Sustainability Science and Management 1 citations