Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Microplastic Pollution in the Environment

This review examines the ubiquitous presence of microplastics as emerging environmental pollutants across all major environmental compartments, synthesizing data on their sources, fates, and concentrations over time and space to characterize the scale of global contamination.

2025
Article Tier 2

Recent advances on the transport of microplastics/nanoplastics in abiotic and biotic compartments

This review synthesizes recent findings on how microplastics and nanoplastics are transported through environmental compartments including water, soil, atmosphere, and biological systems, highlighting key factors that govern their fate and distribution.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 136 citations
Article Tier 2

A Global Perspective of Beginning to the End of the Microplastics in the Aquatic Environment

This comprehensive review examines microplastics in aquatic environments from initial release through environmental fate, biological uptake, and ecological effects, identifying key knowledge gaps in freshwater and marine ecosystems.

2024
Article Tier 2

Occurrence, Fate and Fluxes of Plastics and Microplastics in Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecosystems

This review examines the occurrence, transport pathways, and fate of plastics and microplastics in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems globally, synthesizing evidence that these systems are both sources and sinks and that microplastics cycle between compartments in complex ways.

2020 Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 81 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Pollution: Fate, Sources, Transport and Identification

This review summarizes the sources, fate, transport, and identification methods for microplastics in aquatic and terrestrial environments, highlighting their global distribution across all ecosystems and the growing concern for their impacts on marine life, other organisms, and human health.

2023 4 citations
Review Tier 2

Review on invasion of microplastic in our ecosystem and implications

This review examines microplastic pollution across aquatic, terrestrial, airborne, and biological environments, concluding that microplastics travel across national boundaries and media, requiring global collective action beyond individual national waste reduction policies.

2022 Science Progress 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Driver, Trends and Fate of Plastics and Micro Plastics Occurrence in the Environment

This review examines the sources, trends, and environmental fate of plastics and microplastics, which have become a major global pollution problem due to massive production and poor waste management. Understanding how plastics move through the environment is essential for designing effective pollution controls.

2023
Article Tier 2

Current research trends on micro- and nano-plastics as an emerging threat to global environment: A review.

This review summarizes the current knowledge on micro- and nanoplastics as emerging global pollutants, covering their distribution across terrestrial, aquatic, and atmospheric environments, their persistence, and the health risks from their chemical additives. It identifies key research gaps in understanding how MNPs move between environmental compartments and accumulate in living organisms.

2021 Journal of hazardous materials
Article Tier 2

Unveiling the complex impact of microplastics on environmental health, ecosystems, and humans

This comprehensive review consolidates current knowledge on microplastic pollution across marine, freshwater, terrestrial, and atmospheric environments. Researchers examined sources, transport pathways, impacts on living organisms, sampling techniques, and regulatory challenges, highlighting significant gaps in understanding the full scope of microplastic effects on ecosystems and human well-being.

2026 Journal of Environmental Management
Article Tier 2

The biography of microplastics (MPs): occurrences, sources, weathering/degradation, characterization, ecological/human risks, removal methods, policy development, and current trends and future perspectives

This comprehensive review covers the full lifecycle of microplastics, from their sources and environmental breakdown to their effects on ecosystems and human health. The authors discuss how physical, chemical, and biological processes fragment larger plastics into microplastics and nanoplastics that spread through air, water, and soil. The review emphasizes the growing evidence that microplastic exposure poses risks to human health and calls for stronger policies and standardized research methods.

2024 Anthropocene Coasts 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Environmental Setting: A Review on Sources, Exposure Routes and Potential Toxicities on Human Health

This review examines microplastics in environmental settings, synthesizing current knowledge on sources, distribution across terrestrial and aquatic compartments, fate processes, and ecological consequences. The authors identify priority research areas needed to address remaining uncertainties in microplastic risk assessment.

2024 Bioresources and Environment 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Exploring the complex interactions between microplastics and marine contaminants

A comprehensive review explored the complex interactions between microplastics and various environmental matrices (water, soil, sediment, biota), synthesizing knowledge on how plastics move between compartments and affect ecosystems. The review identifies critical knowledge gaps and priority areas for future microplastic research.

2025 Marine Pollution Bulletin 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Current understanding of microplastics in the environment: Occurrence, fate, risks, and what we should do

This review synthesizes current knowledge on microplastic occurrence, environmental fate, and risk across marine, freshwater, and atmospheric compartments, noting that both the physical particles and the chemicals they carry pose hazards. The authors call for a more integrated risk assessment framework that treats microplastics as both a pollutant and a carrier of other pollutants.

2017 Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management 262 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental distribution, transport and ecotoxicity of microplastics: A review

This review covers the environmental distribution and transport of microplastics across marine, freshwater, soil, and atmospheric compartments, and analyzes their toxicity to organisms at different trophic levels including potential effects on human health.

2020 Journal of Applied Toxicology 76 citations
Article Tier 2

Research Progress of Microplastics

This review summarizes research progress on microplastics, covering their sources, distribution across environmental compartments, detection methods, and ecotoxicological effects on organisms. The authors highlight key knowledge gaps including the long-term fate of small microplastics and nanoplastics in terrestrial and aquatic systems.

2024 Engineering and Technology Journal 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Characteristics of Plastic Pollution in the Environment: A Review.

This review covers the key characteristics of plastic pollution — including sources, abundance, transport, and degradation — across different environmental compartments. It synthesizes knowledge about what makes plastic pollution persistent and widespread, providing a foundation for understanding microplastic formation and behavior in the environment.

2021 Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology
Article Tier 2

Environmental Impact of Microplastics in Aquatic Ecosystems: A Review of Current Research and Future Directions

This review examines microplastic pollution in aquatic ecosystems, covering chemical, biological, and ecological processes beyond simple physical contamination and identifying priority areas for future research directions.

2025 Indus journal of bioscience research.
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: Holistic overview of source, identification, interaction, health and environmental implications and strategies of abatement

This review provides a comprehensive overview of microplastic sources, identification methods, interactions with other pollutants, and impacts on the environment and human health. Microplastics are now found in virtually every ecosystem and enter the food chain through multiple routes, making them a global pollution crisis that requires urgent research and policy action.

2020 Acta Chemica Malaysia 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Identifying Knowledge Gaps and Research Needs in Microplastic Pollution Research

This review identifies knowledge gaps and research needs in microplastic pollution science, noting ubiquitous detection of microplastics in environmental compartments globally and highlighting unresolved questions about urban-to-rural transport, ecotoxicological effects, and effective mitigation strategies.

2025
Article Tier 2

Distribution and importance of microplastics in the marine environment: A review of the sources, fate, effects, and potential solutions

This review synthesized research on the distribution and significance of microplastics across the marine environment, covering sources, transport pathways, ecological interactions, and the state of knowledge on biological and chemical effects.

2017 Environment International 2517 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic accumulation, depuration dynamics and localization in environmental compartments: combination of experimental set ups and field studies

Researchers tracked microplastic accumulation and depuration in multiple environmental compartments and marine organisms using controlled microcosm experiments. The study found that particles distribute differently across sediment, water, and biota, and that biological depuration is incomplete within realistic timeframes.

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

The Microplastic Cycle: An Introduction to a Complex Issue

This study introduces and expands the microplastic cycle concept as a framework for understanding how plastic particles move across ecosystem reservoirs, connecting source-receptor models with the fate, transport, and effects of plastic pollution.

2021 Environmental contamination remediation and management 26 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Environment and Effects on Biota

This review summarizes how microplastics form from plastic breakdown in nature or are manufactured at small sizes, spread across ecosystems, and harm organisms from microbes to larger animals. It emphasizes that poor plastic waste management is driving a growing global pollution crisis with broad ecological consequences.

2020 Turkish Journal of Water Science and Management 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution - what have we learned from the last 20 years of research and what are the priorities ahead?

This paper reviewed 20 years of microplastic research since the foundational 2004 study, summarizing what has been learned about sources, distribution, ecological impacts, and remaining knowledge gaps. The review emphasizes that while understanding has grown dramatically, key questions about dose-response relationships and long-term ecological effects remain unresolved.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)