Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Assessment of potential ecological risk for microplastic particles

Researchers applied an ecological risk assessment framework to evaluate the hazard posed by microplastic particles across multiple environmental compartments, using species sensitivity distributions and environmental concentration data. The assessment highlighted specific particle types and size ranges that present the greatest ecological risk.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Assessment of potential ecological risk for microplastic particles

Researchers developed a framework for assessing the ecological risk of microplastic particles, incorporating particle characteristics, environmental concentrations, and species sensitivity data. The assessment identified conditions under which current environmental microplastic levels pose significant risk to aquatic organisms.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Assessment of potential ecological risk for microplastics in freshwater ecosystems

Researchers assessed the ecological risk of microplastics across freshwater ecosystems worldwide, including rivers and lakes in China, Vietnam, Europe, and South America. While one risk method showed negligible danger, more comprehensive assessment approaches revealed extreme ecological threats at every location studied, suggesting that microplastic pollution in freshwater may be more serious than previously thought.

2024 Chemosphere 22 citations
Meta Analysis Tier 1

Global distribution characteristics and ecological risk assessment of microplastics in aquatic organisms based on meta-analysis

This meta-analysis assessed the global distribution of microplastics in aquatic organisms across multiple trophic levels, finding that biological characteristics like body size and feeding strategy significantly influence microplastic ingestion rates. The study provides a framework for ecological risk assessment and proposes strategies to reduce microplastic input into water bodies.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Toward an ecotoxicological risk assessment of microplastics: Comparison of available hazard and exposure data in freshwaters

Researchers compiled available exposure and toxicity data to perform the first probabilistic risk assessment of microplastics specifically in freshwater environments. The study found that while current concentrations in most freshwaters may not yet pose widespread ecological risk, localized hotspots could exceed harmful thresholds, highlighting the need for more standardized freshwater monitoring.

2018 Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 188 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: addressing ecological risk through lessons learned

Researchers reviewed the current state of microplastic ecological risk assessment and proposed applying lessons learned from more established fields of environmental research. The study suggests that despite widespread concern about microplastic pollution, scientific understanding of actual ecological risk remains limited, and future research should follow more rigorous risk assessment frameworks.

2015 Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 312 citations
Meta Analysis Tier 1

Meta-analysis of the hazards of microplastics in freshwaters using species sensitivity distributions

This meta-analysis built species sensitivity distributions for microplastics in freshwater and found that predicted no-effect concentrations for pristine microplastics were lower than for weathered ones, suggesting lab studies with new plastics may overestimate real-world hazards. The research highlights that most ecotoxicological studies use pristine microplastics at concentrations far exceeding environmental levels, complicating ecological risk assessment.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 30 citations
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

How Do Microplastics Distribute Through Freshwater Ecosystems? Which Biota, Feeding Groups, and Trophic Levels Are Most at Risk?

This review examines how microplastics distribute through freshwater ecosystems — across water columns, sediments, biota, and trophic levels — identifying filter feeders, detritivores, and higher trophic level organisms as particularly vulnerable to microplastic accumulation.

2025
Article Tier 2

Estimating species sensitivity distributions for microplastics by quantitatively considering particle characteristics using a recently created ecotoxicity database

Researchers estimated species sensitivity distributions for microplastics using Bayesian modeling that accounts for particle characteristics such as size, shape, and polymer type. The study suggests that quantitatively considering these microplastic properties yields more accurate environmental risk assessments than traditional approaches that treat all microplastics as equivalent.

2023 Microplastics and Nanoplastics 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Aquatic Ecosystems: A Multitiered Framework for Ecological Risk Assessment and Mitigation

Researchers proposed a multi-level framework for assessing the ecological risks of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems, combining statistical analysis, mechanistic modeling, and machine learning. The framework addresses how microplastics accumulate through food chains, interact with other pollutants, and affect organisms at different levels. The study provides a structured approach that could help environmental managers better evaluate and respond to microplastic pollution in waterways.

2025 ACS ES&T Water 2 citations
Article Tier 2

A taste of plastic - quantifying micro- and nanoplastic ingestion and interactions with feeding in daphnia magna (E)

This study developed quantitative methods for measuring microplastic and nanoplastic ingestion by freshwater organisms, applying them to mussels and other invertebrates. The analytical approach helps address a key gap in freshwater microplastic research, where most studies have been qualitative rather than quantitative in assessing organism exposure.

2017 Technical University of Denmark, DTU Orbit (Technical University of Denmark, DTU)
Article Tier 2

Ecotoxicity of microplastics to freshwater biota: Considering exposure and hazard across trophic levels

This review examines the toxic effects of microplastics on freshwater organisms across multiple levels of the food web, from biofilms and plankton to fish and amphibians. Researchers found evidence of harm in several species, though effects varied widely depending on particle size, type, and concentration. The study highlights that freshwater microplastic toxicity is still poorly understood compared to marine environments and calls for more standardized research.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 150 citations
Article Tier 2

A probabilistic risk framework for microplastics integrating uncertainty across toxicological and environmental variability: Development and application to marine and freshwater ecosystems

Researchers developed a new probabilistic risk assessment framework for microplastics that accounts for uncertainty in how laboratory toxicity data translates to real environmental conditions. Using Monte Carlo simulation and an enhanced species sensitivity distribution model, they found that uncertainty from particle-trait alignments can drive threshold variability by up to two orders of magnitude. The framework highlights that current risk assessments may underestimate hazards and identifies key research needs for improving microplastic environmental safety thresholds.

2026 Journal of Hazardous Materials
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in freshwater ecosystems: probabilistic environmental risk assessment and current knowledge in occurrence and ecotoxicological studies

Researchers conducted a comprehensive review of microplastic occurrence in freshwater ecosystems and performed the first probabilistic environmental risk assessment for specific polymer types. They established predicted no-effect concentration values for polystyrene and polyethylene and calculated risk quotients suggesting that current microplastic levels in most freshwater environments pose a low ecological risk.

2025 Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Towards more ecologically relevant investigations of the impacts of microplastic pollution in freshwater ecosystems

This review argues that microplastic research in freshwater ecosystems lacks ecological realism, calling for studies that account for realistic exposure concentrations, particle mixtures, and multi-species interactions rather than single-species laboratory tests.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 60 citations
Article Tier 2

Species sensitivity distributions of microplastics based on toxicity endpoints and particle characteristics: Implications of assessing ecological risk in Tai Lake

Researchers used species sensitivity distributions to assess the ecological risk of microplastics in Tai Lake, China, finding that fiber-shaped particles and PVC plastics posed the greatest threat. Fish were identified as the most sensitive group compared to crustaceans and mollusks, and particles in the 100 to 1,000 micrometer range showed the highest toxicity. The study provides a framework for evaluating which types and sizes of microplastics pose the greatest ecological concern in freshwater lakes.

2024 Environmental Pollution 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Responses to environmentally relevant microplastics are species-specific with dietary habit as a potential sensitivity indicator

Species-specific responses to environmentally relevant microplastic concentrations were assessed across multiple marine organisms within a functional group study. Results showed that responses differed substantially between species, indicating that single-species tests cannot reliably predict community-level effects of microplastic contamination.

2020 The Science of The Total Environment 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Risk assessment of microplastics in freshwater sediments guided by strict quality criteria and data alignment methods

Researchers developed a quality-screened risk assessment framework for microplastics in freshwater sediments worldwide, rescaling published exposure data to a standard 1-5000 µm size range and aligning ecotoxicity thresholds to account for polydispersity and bioaccessible fractions. Using species sensitivity distributions, they calculated hazardous concentrations for 5% of species at approximately 4.9 x 10^9 particles/kg dry weight, finding that current environmental concentrations approach but generally fall within the margin of uncertainty of this threshold.

2022 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Risk-based integrated framework for evaluating effects of microplastics to aquatic ecosystems and human health

Researchers developed an integrated risk assessment framework to evaluate how microplastics in water and seafood affect both aquatic ecosystems and human health. They studied microplastic levels in surface water and wild oysters from estuaries in Taiwan and assessed ecological risk, oyster mortality, human intake exposure, and potential liver damage. The study provides a more comprehensive approach to understanding the full chain of risks from microplastic pollution, from waterways to the dinner table.

2025 Environmental Research 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Non-traditional species sensitivity distribution approaches to analyze hazardous concentrations of microplastics in marine water

Researchers analyzed species sensitivity distribution curves for microplastic toxicity in marine water using non-traditional approaches, determining hazardous concentration thresholds across multiple toxicity endpoints to support environmental risk assessment.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Study on water quality criteria and ecological risk assessment of microplastics in China’s surface waters

Researchers derived water quality criteria for microplastics in Chinese surface waters using species sensitivity distribution analysis across aquatic toxicity data. The resulting criteria values provide regulatory benchmarks for protecting aquatic organisms from microplastic contamination in freshwater and marine environments.

2022 Human and Ecological Risk Assessment An International Journal 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Important ecological processes are affected by the accumulation and trophic transfer of nanoplastics in a freshwater periphyton-grazer food chain

Researchers found that nanoplastics bioaccumulate and transfer trophically in a freshwater periphyton-grazer food chain, affecting fundamental ecological processes and highlighting significant gaps in our understanding of nanoplastic risks in freshwater ecosystems.

2022 Environmental Science Nano 28 citations
Article Tier 2

Understanding hazardous concentrations of microplastics in fresh water using non-traditional toxicity data

Researchers developed hazard concentration thresholds for microplastics in freshwater using non-traditional toxicity data, accounting for environmentally relevant sizes, shapes, and polymer types to provide more realistic governance standards.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 24 citations