Papers

61,005 results
|
Article Tier 2

Participatory Social Mapping with Ethnic Communities to Identify Factors Associated With Microplastics in a Protected Area on the Northern Coast Of Colombia

Researchers used participatory social mapping with Indigenous and ethnic communities in a protected coastal area of Colombia to identify local hotspots of microplastic contamination, including wastewater discharge points and waste dumping sites, demonstrating that community knowledge is a valuable tool for environmental monitoring.

2025 Proceedings of the International Conference on Environmental Science and Applications, ICESA ...
Article Tier 2

Biodiversity in mountain soils above the treeline

Not relevant to microplastics — this paper reviews biodiversity gaps in high-altitude mountain soils, covering microorganisms, fungi, and invertebrates, and identifies major geographic and taxonomic blind spots in soil ecology research, with no connection to plastic pollution.

2023 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Mountains of plastic: Mismanaged plastic waste along the Carpathian watercourses

Using high-resolution mapping data, researchers quantified mismanaged plastic waste along river networks in the Carpathian mountains, one of Europe's most biodiverse regions. The results reveal that rivers carry substantial plastic waste through mountain ecosystems where it can harm wildlife and persist for years.

2023
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in a tropical Andean Glacier: A transportation process across the Amazon basin?

Microplastics were detected in an Andean glacier in Peru at high altitude, with atmospheric deposition from Amazonian cities identified as a likely transport pathway, expanding evidence that glacier cryospheres across South America are vulnerable to plastic contamination and may release stored particles as they melt.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 54 citations
Article Tier 2

The potentiality of GIS for assessing soil pollution – A review

Not relevant to microplastics — this review examines how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be applied to assess and map soil pollution from heavy metals, pesticides, and other contaminants, with no substantive microplastics content.

2023 International Journal of Agricultural and Applied Sciences 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Implementing a GIS-Based Digital Atlas of Agricultural Plastics to Reduce Their Environmental Footprint: Part II, an Inductive Approach

Researchers implemented a GIS-based digital atlas of agricultural plastics using an inductive approach, aiming to map and reduce the environmental footprint of plastic use in farming and address alarming levels of terrestrial plastic contamination.

2022 Applied Sciences 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Primer reporte de microplásticos en los Andes Peruanos: el caso del Glaciar Paccha en la cordillera central, Huarochirí-Lima

Researchers report the first detection of microplastics in a tropical glacier in the Peruvian Andes, the Paccha Glacier in the central mountain range. Surface samples of snow and ice were collected and analyzed using micro-Raman spectroscopy to identify the polymer composition of suspected microparticles. The study provides evidence that plastic pollution has reached remote high-altitude ecosystems far from population centers.

2026 Ecología Aplicada
Article Tier 2

Eco-Asset Variations and Their Driving Factors in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, China, under the Context of Global Change

This paper is not relevant to microplastics research — it analyzes ecological asset changes and their environmental drivers on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau using remote sensing data.

2023 Sustainability 2 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

Plastic pollution in marine ecosystems: spatiotemporal assessment in beach sediments of protected coastal areas

Researchers conducted a spatiotemporal assessment of plastic pollution including microplastics in beach sediments across 13 beaches in marine protected areas in Colombia and the Canary Islands, Spain, evaluating plastic debris under varying environmental conditions in ecologically sensitive coastal zones.

2025
Article Tier 2

Análisis de la basura marina desde una perspectiva de las Expediciones a la Reserva de la Biosfera Seaflower, Colombia: fuentes, salud del mar y políticas públicas

Researchers analyzed marine debris data collected during expeditions to the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve in Colombia, examining pollution sources, marine health implications, and public policy gaps. The study identifies plastic as the dominant debris type and discusses the disconnect between observed marine pollution and existing regulatory frameworks.

2024 Boletín Científico CIOH
Article Tier 2

Mapping microplastic overlap between marine compartments and biodiversity in a Mediterranean marine protected area

Researchers mapped microplastic distribution across water, sediment, and biota in a Mediterranean marine protected area, revealing significant overlap between microplastic hotspots and biodiversity-rich zones, raising concerns about ecological impacts in supposedly protected habitats.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 10 citations
Review Tier 2

Beyond landscape experience: A systematic literature review on the concept of spatial quality in flood‐risk management

This paper is not about microplastics; it systematically reviews how "spatial quality" is defined and used in flood-risk management planning across different countries and academic traditions.

2023 Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Water 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Preliminary Assessment of Plastic Litter and Microplastic Contamination in Freshwater Depositional Areas: The Case Study of Puerto Misahualli, Ecuadorian Amazonia

Researchers conducted a preliminary assessment of plastic litter and microplastics in sediments at a riverine depositional area in the Ecuadorian Amazon, finding low-density polyethylene bags as the dominant macroplastic and documenting microplastic presence in an upper Amazon basin location.

2021 Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Los microplásticos, una amenaza desconocida para los ecosistemas marinos de Colombia: perspectivas y desafíos a enfrentar

This review examines microplastic contamination in Colombian marine ecosystems, highlighting the serious but poorly understood threat these particles pose to marine biota, ecosystem balance, and human health. The authors identify key research gaps and challenges specific to Colombia's coastal and oceanic environments.

2021 Gestión y Ambiente 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Purpose-Designed Hydrogeological Maps in Wide Interconnected Surface-Groundwater Systems: The Test Example of Parma Alluvial Aquifer and Taro River Basin (Northern Italy)

Not relevant to microplastics — this paper presents a methodology for designing hydrogeological maps of surface water and groundwater systems in northern Italy.

2023 Preprints.org 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Macroplastic pollution hotspots across global mountain river catchments

Researchers mapped macroplastic pollution hotspots across global mountain river catchments, identifying densely populated mountain areas as significant sources of plastic that enters high-energy river channels where rapid fragmentation into microplastics can occur. The study emphasised that mountain rivers represent underappreciated pathways for microplastic generation and downstream transport to lowland rivers and ultimately the ocean.

2024
Article Tier 2

Spatial Risks ofMicroplastics in Soils and the CascadingEffects Thereof

This review mapped the spatial risks of microplastic contamination in global soils, examining how climate, land use, and human activities distribute MP pollution and analyzing cascading effects on soil ecology, carbon cycling, and ecosystem services.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Visualizing Posthuman Conservation in the Age of the Anthropocene

This book examines how posthuman conservation frameworks can be visualised and applied in the context of the Anthropocene, exploring the intersection of human activity, ecological change, and conservation philosophy.

2018 The Ohio State University Press eBooks 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Mountains of plastic: Mismanaged plastic waste along the Carpathian watercourses

Researchers mapped mismanaged plastic waste along 175,675 km of Carpathian waterways using high-resolution databases, finding that 81% of river lengths are significantly affected, with the worst hotspots concentrated in Romania, Hungary, and Ukraine, and that nationally protected areas paradoxically have higher plastic waste loads than internationally protected zones.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic diversity, risks and soil impacts: A multi-metric assessment across land-use systems

Researchers surveyed microplastic abundance, polymer diversity, and ecological risk across seven land-use types in India's Brahmaputra Valley, finding that built-up areas had the highest particle counts while forest soils paradoxically showed the greatest polymer hazard scores due to high-risk polymers, and that land-use type shapes both the quantity and composition of soil microplastic contamination.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Coastal populations and river discharges as sources of microplastic pollution of the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta, Colombian Caribbean

Researchers investigated microplastic contamination in surface waters of the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta coastal lagoon in Colombia and assessed the contribution of coastal populations and river discharges as pollution sources. MPs were detected throughout this internationally protected Ramsar site, with proximity to populated areas and river inputs driving spatial variation in contamination.

2025 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Seasonal analysis of microplastic concentration on the surface of the Guartinaja water body, Bajo Sinú Wetland Complex

Researchers characterized microplastic pollution on the surface of the La Guartinaja marsh in Colombia during rising and falling water periods. The study found concentrations ranging from about 45 to 260 microplastics per liter depending on the season, with fibers being the dominant type at over 80 percent, and used geospatial analysis to map contamination hotspots across the wetland.

2026
Article Tier 2

A Tropical Cocktail of Organic Matter Sources: Variability in Supraglacial and Glacier Outflow Dissolved Organic Matter Composition and Age Across the Ecuadorian Andes

This paper is not relevant to microplastics; it characterizes the dissolved organic matter composition of glacial outflow streams on Ecuadorian Andean volcanoes.

2023 Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences 8 citations