Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Aquatic ecosystem indices, linking ecosystem health to human health risks

Researchers reviewed indicators used to assess aquatic ecosystem health and found that most existing tools don't adequately capture the risks that degraded water ecosystems pose to human health and well-being. They propose a new set of combined indicators — covering chemical contaminants, pathogens, and biological markers — to better link ecosystem health monitoring to human health outcomes.

2025 Biodiversity and Conservation 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Development of Ecosystem Health Assessment (EHA) and Application Method: A Review

This review traces the development of ecosystem health assessment methods, comparing biological indicator approaches and index system methods and analyzing how they have been applied to assess the health of aquatic, terrestrial, and urban ecosystems under anthropogenic stress.

2021 Sustainability 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Effectiveness assessment of using water environmental microHI to predict the health status of wild fish

Researchers tested whether measuring the health of microbial communities in river water could predict the health status of wild fish living there. The study found that the environmental microbiota health index was effective for bottom-dwelling fish but less reliable for fish living in the open water, suggesting this non-invasive monitoring approach works best for certain types of aquatic species.

2024 Frontiers in Microbiology 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Multiple approach for assessing lagoon environmental status based on water bodies quality indices and microplastics accumulation

Researchers assessed lagoon environmental status using water quality indices and microplastic accumulation measurements, finding that combining these multiple approaches provides a more comprehensive evaluation of lagoon ecosystem health than single metrics alone.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Ecological Security Evaluation of Marine Ranching Based on DEMATEL-Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation

This study developed a multi-factor scoring system to evaluate the ecological health and security of marine ranching areas in China. Marine ranching ecosystems are increasingly threatened by microplastic pollution, making ecological security assessments important for sustainable fisheries management.

2021 Mathematical Problems in Engineering 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Towards Adaptive Water Quality Indexing: Integrating Fuzzy Logic for Improved Contaminant Detection and Treatment Planning

This study proposed integrating fuzzy logic into water quality index calculations to better handle the uncertainty and compounding effects of emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, microplastics, and personal care products that conventional water quality indices were not designed to assess.

2025 Proceedings of the International Conference of Recent Trends in Environmental Science and Engineering
Article Tier 2

A preliminary study of direct observation and selected water quality monitoring in Putrajaya Lake: the status between October-December 2022

Researchers conducted a preliminary study combining direct observation of aquatic environments with selected water quality monitoring parameters, developing a simplified field methodology for rapid assessment of freshwater ecosystem health. The approach demonstrated that combining visual habitat assessment with targeted chemical measurements could efficiently characterize ecological condition in resource-limited monitoring contexts.

2024 International Journal of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Research 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Application of pressure–state–response approach for developing criteria and indicators of ecological health assessment of wetlands: a multi-temporal study in Ichhamati floodplains, India

Researchers developed and tested a comprehensive 105-indicator framework for assessing the ecological health of tropical floodplain wetlands in eastern India, applying it across seven sites over multiple years. The results showed that agriculture-dominated wetlands were the most degraded, while fishing-dominated wetlands fared better, offering a replicable tool for wetland management in similar regions.

2023 Ecological Processes 19 citations
Article Tier 2

A Comprehensive Method for Water Environment Assessment considering Trends of Water Quality

Researchers developed a comprehensive water quality assessment method that accounts for both current pollution levels and trends over time, applying it to rivers feeding a major Chinese reservoir. Water quality assessment frameworks are increasingly being adapted to include microplastic contamination as a standard monitoring parameter.

2021 Advances in Civil Engineering 22 citations
Article Tier 2

The Baltic Health Index (BHI): Assessing the social–ecological status of the Baltic Sea

Researchers introduced the Baltic Health Index (BHI) as a transparent, collaborative tool that integrates ecological and human-dimension metrics to assess the social-ecological health of the Baltic Sea, complementing existing ecological status frameworks.

2021 People and Nature 49 citations
Article Tier 2

Monitoring of Rivers and Streams Conditions Using Biological Indices with Emphasis on Algae: A Comprehensive Descriptive Review toward River Management

This comprehensive review examines algal communities as biological indicators of river and stream health, covering how algal indices respond to changes in nutrient levels, salinity, flow regime, and other environmental variables relevant to river management and ecological assessment.

2023 IntechOpen eBooks 5 citations
Article Tier 2

River ecosystem processes: A synthesis of approaches, criteria of use and sensitivity to environmental stressors

This synthesis reviewed approaches to studying river ecosystem processes, evaluating criteria for selecting sensitive indicators and methods for detecting ecological change driven by pollution and land-use pressures.

2017 The Science of The Total Environment 156 citations
Article Tier 2

Biological indicators to check water quality in plastic-heavy water bodies

This review examines the use of biological indicators for monitoring water quality in environments heavily contaminated with plastics and heavy metals, summarizing recent advances in bioindicator approaches for tracking pollution trends and environmental health effects in plastic-polluted water bodies.

2022 Journal of Ecobiotechnology
Article Tier 2

Assessing the Ecological Status of European Rivers and Lakes Using Benthic Invertebrate Communities: A Practical Catalogue of Metrics and Methods

A comprehensive catalog of benthic invertebrate metrics used across 26 EU national assessment systems for rivers and 21 for lakes was compiled, identifying the range of biological indices and methodological approaches currently used to evaluate ecological status under the Water Framework Directive.

2021 Water 47 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessing land-use impacts on a 5th-order tropical river using multiple environmental indicators

Researchers combined multiple environmental indicators to assess the health of a tropical river system in Brazil affected by land-use change from agriculture and urbanization. Rivers in degraded landscapes also carry higher microplastic loads, and multi-indicator approaches provide a more complete picture of ecosystem health.

2021 Caderno de Geografia 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Novel Quantitative Evaluation of Biotreatment Suitability of Wastewater

This study developed a new framework for evaluating how suitable wastewater is for biological treatment, going beyond standard water quality indicators. Better assessment tools could improve wastewater treatment efficiency and reduce pollutant discharges, including microplastics.

2022 Water 5 citations
Article Tier 2

A Framework to Identify Priority Areas for Restoration: Integrating Human Demand and Ecosystem Services in Dongting Lake Eco-Economic Zone, China

Researchers developed a framework integrating human demand and ecosystem services to identify priority restoration areas in the Dongting Lake Eco-Economic Zone, enabling more targeted and beneficial ecological restoration planning.

2023 Land 11 citations
Article Tier 2

The feasibility of converting ex-coal mining void into aquaculture in North Kalimantan

Researchers assessed the feasibility of converting ex-coal mining voids in North Kalimantan, Indonesia into freshwater aquaculture areas by analyzing physical and chemical water quality parameters against Indonesian regulatory standards for aquaculture.

2023 Journal of Degraded and Mining Lands Management 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Conditions of Mainland China’s Island Ecosystems and Associated Influencing Factors: Integrated Assessment of 42 Typical Island Ecosystems

Researchers assessed the ecological condition of 42 representative islands along China's coast using a framework integrating environmental quality, biological structure, and landscape patterns, finding that island ecosystem health varied significantly by size, location, and human land use intensity.

2022 Frontiers in Marine Science 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Water Quality Modelling, Monitoring, and Mitigation

This special issue review examines advances in water quality modelling, monitoring, and mitigation approaches, noting that while models and indices have become central tools for water resource management, site-specific limitations and high uncertainty in predictions remain key challenges for reliably assessing freshwater body health.

2022 Applied Sciences 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Biologia Futura: integrating freshwater ecosystem health in water resources management

This paper argues that sustainable water resource management must integrate freshwater ecosystem health as a priority, proposing that freshwater bodies should be treated as 'water users' with their own biological and physicochemical requirements.

2020 Biologia Futura 63 citations
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

Application of Index Models for Assessing Freshwater Microplastics Pollution

Researchers applied pollution and health risk index models to microplastic data from freshwater environments, demonstrating that standardized indices can help compare contamination levels across studies with different units and methodologies.

2021 Open MIND 47 citations
Article Tier 2

Urban Water Quality Assessment Based on Remote Sensing Reflectance Optical Classification

Researchers developed an urban water quality assessment method combining remote sensing reflectance optical classification with traditional water quality grading principles, enabling spatially and temporally continuous monitoring of urban water bodies.

2021 Remote Sensing 26 citations