Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution research methodologies, abundance, characteristics and risk assessments for aquatic biota in China

Researchers reviewed the current state of microplastic pollution research in China's aquatic environments, covering detection methods, abundance data, characteristics, and risk assessments for aquatic organisms. The review highlights that China's marine and freshwater environments are seriously polluted by microplastics, with ingestion by aquatic organisms posing potential ecological harm.

2020 Environmental Pollution 154 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution in Chinese Rivers: A detailed analysis of distribution, risk factors, and ecological impact

Researchers aggregated data from 2,474 microplastic samples across 165 publications to assess ecological risk in Chinese rivers, finding widespread contamination with average abundance varying substantially by watershed characteristics. A revised risk assessment accounting for particle morphology and polymer toxicity raised concern levels beyond previous estimates.

2025 Marine Pollution Bulletin 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Water environmental capacity of estuarine microplastics capped by species sensitivity threshold

Researchers calculated water environmental capacity limits for microplastics in estuaries using species sensitivity distributions, establishing ecologically protective threshold concentrations that could inform regulatory standards for MP levels in these biologically rich transition zones between rivers and seas.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials
Article Tier 2

Research Progress and New Ideas on the Theory and Methodology of Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Aquatic Organisms

This paper is not directly about microplastics; it reviews methodologies for setting water quality criteria for aquatic organism protection, focusing on species sensitivity distributions and assessment factors for chemical pollutants broadly.

2023 Toxics 8 citations
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

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

Integrating species sensitivity distributions and toxicity thresholds: A probabilistic risk assessment of microplastics in Yazhou Bay, South China Sea

Researchers assessed microplastic abundance and ecological risk in Yazhou Bay, South China Sea, finding surface water concentrations of 3,437 n/m³ with a modeled estimate reaching 241,000 n/m³ when accounting for smaller particle sizes. Species sensitivity distribution analysis identified significant ecological risk to marine organisms at detected concentrations.

2025 Emerging contaminants
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 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
Article Tier 2

Status and characteristics of microplastic pollution in Chinese freshwater environment

This review summarizes research on microplastic distribution, toxic effects on organisms, and interactions with other pollutants in Chinese freshwater environments. The paper calls for strengthened regulation and monitoring of microplastics in China's lakes, rivers, and water supplies.

2023 Applied and Computational Engineering 1 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

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
Article Tier 2

The contamination of microplastics in China's aquatic environment: Occurrence, detection and implications for ecological risk

This review summarized microplastic contamination across marine environments, freshwater systems, and wastewater treatment plants in China, one of the world's top plastic-producing countries. The study highlights that research on how microplastics transfer between connected water environments remains lacking, and the microscale toxicity of microplastics is still poorly understood.

2021 Environmental Pollution 91 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
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

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

Researchers conducted a risk assessment of microplastics in freshwater sediments worldwide using strict quality criteria and standardized data alignment methods. The study found that while risks from microplastics to bottom-dwelling organisms cannot be excluded at current environmental concentrations, exposure levels were generally near or below the threshold hazardous concentrations calculated for 5% of species.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 73 citations
Meta Analysis Tier 1

A Meta-analysis of Ecotoxicological Hazard Data for Nanoplastics in Marine and Freshwater Systems

This meta-analysis assessed the environmental hazard of nanoplastics (extremely tiny plastic particles) in freshwater and marine systems. By building species sensitivity distributions from available toxicity data, it found that nanoplastics can harm aquatic organisms at relatively low concentrations, highlighting the need for better environmental safety thresholds.

2020 Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 69 citations
Article Tier 2

Illustrating a Species Sensitivity Distribution for Nano- and Microplastic Particles Using Bayesian Hierarchical Modeling

Researchers developed a Bayesian hierarchical model to construct species sensitivity distributions for nano- and microplastic particles, deriving hazardous concentration thresholds to support environmental risk assessment of plastic pollution.

2022 Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 25 citations
Meta Analysis Tier 1

Risk-based management framework for microplastics in aquatic ecosystems

This meta-analysis pooled data from 21 toxicity studies to create a risk management framework for microplastics in water. The researchers identified specific concentration thresholds where microplastics begin to harm aquatic life — either by diluting their food supply or by particles entering their tissues. This framework could help regulators set pollution limits to protect ecosystems and, ultimately, human food sources.

2022 Microplastics and Nanoplastics 124 citations
Article Tier 2

Distribution, Sources, and Ecological Risk Assessment of Microplastics in the Lower Minjiang River

Researchers characterized microplastic abundance, morphology, and polymer composition in surface water and sediments from the lower Minjiang River in China, then used pollution load indices and ecological risk assessments alongside socioeconomic data to identify likely pollution sources and ecological impacts.

2025 Toxics
Article Tier 2

Use of Interspecies Correlation Estimation (ICE) Models to Derive Water Quality Criteria of Microplastics for Protecting Aquatic Organisms

Researchers applied Interspecies Correlation Estimation (ICE) models alongside Species Sensitivity Distribution (SSD) methods to derive water quality criteria for microplastics in freshwater, addressing the challenge of limited aquatic toxicity datasets. The approach enabled derivation of protective threshold concentrations for a broader range of species than direct testing data alone would allow.

2022 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in waters and soils: Occurrence, analytical methods and ecotoxicological effects

Researchers conducted a comprehensive review of microplastic occurrence, analytical methods, and ecotoxicological effects in freshwater and soil environments. The study summarized microplastic abundance across several Chinese freshwater systems and highlighted that while marine microplastic pollution receives the most attention, freshwater and soil contamination deserve greater research focus.

2020 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 146 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in freshwater river sediments in Shanghai, China: A case study of risk assessment in mega-cities

Researchers characterized microplastics in freshwater river sediments across Shanghai, China, finding widespread contamination with higher concentrations near urban areas and industrial zones, dominated by fibers and fragments.

2017 Environmental Pollution 666 citations