Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Microplastics in karst ecosystems and its impact on drinking water quality

This doctoral dissertation investigated microplastic contamination in karst ecosystems — including springs, lakes, air, rainwater, and sediment — in Slovenia, with a focus on drinking water sources that serve over 20,000 residents. The research found microplastics present across all sampled environments and aimed to identify pollution sources and transport pathways to help protect vulnerable karst groundwater supplies.

2023 RUNG
Article Tier 2

Mikroplastika U Slatkim Vodama: Pregled Načina Uzorkovanja I Pratećih Analiza

This review summarizes methods for sampling and analyzing microplastics in freshwater environments, covering filtration, visual sorting, and spectroscopic identification techniques. Standardizing sampling methods is critical because microplastics are persistent pollutants that can take thousands of years to decompose and negatively affect aquatic organisms.

2021 Zbornik radova Građevinskog fakulteta
Review Tier 2

A Review of Microplastics in Freshwater Environments: Locations, Methods, and Pollution Loads

This review chapter summarizes global research on microplastics in freshwater environments, covering detection locations, sampling methods, and pollution levels. Because many freshwater bodies serve as drinking water sources, understanding where microplastics occur and in what quantities is critical for assessing risks to human health.

2020 ACS symposium series 19 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic in Freshwater Environment: A Review on Techniques and Abundance for Microplastic Detection in Lake Water

This review examines microplastic pollution in freshwater environments, summarizing detection techniques and reporting on abundance data from rivers, lakes, and streams worldwide. The authors highlight methodological inconsistencies that complicate cross-study comparisons and call for standardized sampling and analysis protocols.

2023 Trends in Sciences 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Sources, Occurrence, and Analysis of Microplastics in Freshwater Environments

This review summarizes current knowledge on microplastic sources and occurrence in freshwater environments, noting that freshwater systems are major conduits delivering microplastics to the ocean. The review highlights that freshwater microplastic research lags far behind marine studies despite rivers and lakes being primary pollution pathways.

2022 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in freshwater ecosystems : effects and drivers

This thesis assessed how microplastic exposure affects freshwater microorganisms, macroinvertebrates, and other organisms in freshwater ecosystems, finding that microplastics are a pervasive contaminant of freshwater environments with unclear but potentially significant ecological impacts.

2024 Acta universitatis agriculturae Sueciae
Article Tier 2

Assessment of Different Sampling, Sample Preparation and Analysis Methods Addressing Microplastic Concentration and Transport in Medium and Large Rivers Based on Research in the Danube River Basin

Monitoring microplastics in rivers is hampered by the lack of standardized methods, making it difficult to compare results across studies. This research tested three common sampling approaches on the Danube River and its tributaries, finding that each method produced meaningfully different estimates of microplastic concentrations and transport. The results underscore the urgent need for agreed-upon protocols so that data from different countries and research groups can be reliably combined to track river-to-ocean plastic pollution.

2025 Sustainability 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastic and Microplastic in the Environment

This review summarizes the sources, pathways, analytical methods, and distribution of microplastics in freshwater environments, emphasizing that rivers and lakes are major conduits transferring plastic pollution from terrestrial sources to the oceans.

2022 27 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Microplastic contamination, an emerging threat to the freshwater environment: a systematic review

Researchers systematically reviewed the spread of microplastics in freshwater ecosystems — rivers, lakes, and streams — documenting their sources, how they move through water, the damage they cause to aquatic organisms, and the methods used to detect them. Their review serves as a baseline reference for future research and calls for improved waste management to protect freshwater environments from ongoing microplastic contamination.

2024 ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS RESEARCH 98 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution in small rivers along rural–urban gradients: Variations across catchments and between water column and sediments

This study compared microplastic pollution in water column and sediments of two small Slovenian rivers with different levels of urbanization and wastewater treatment plant influence. Microplastic concentrations differed significantly between water samples from the two rivers but not in sediments, with fibers dominating in both matrices.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 68 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastic pollution in Swiss surface waters: nature and concentrations, interaction with pollutants

Researchers surveyed microplastic pollution in Swiss surface waters including multiple lakes and rivers. The study confirmed the presence of microplastics in Swiss freshwater environments and investigated interactions between microplastics and chemical pollutants, expanding the data on freshwater microplastic contamination beyond the initial findings from Lake Geneva.

2015 Environmental Chemistry 488 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Natural Water: Sources and Determination

This paper reviews the sources of microplastic pollution in aquatic environments and the analytical methods used to characterize and quantify microplastic particles, covering sampling, extraction, and identification techniques relevant to freshwater and marine monitoring.

2023 WATER AND WATER PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGIES SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL NEWS 3 citations
Article Tier 2

The emerging issue of microplastics: ongoing investigation in water and sediments of subalpine lakes

This Italian study identified microplastics in subalpine lakes and characterized their polymer types and abundance, adding to evidence that microplastics have reached even remote freshwater ecosystems far from industrial centers. The findings underscore the ubiquity of plastic contamination across diverse freshwater environments.

2019 CINECA IRIS Institutional Research Information System (Fondazione Edmund Mach)
Article Tier 2

The occurrence of microplastics in freshwater systems – preliminary results from Krakow (Poland)

This preliminary study measured microplastic concentrations in freshwater systems in Poland, finding particles widely distributed in both surface water and sediment. The research fills a gap in knowledge about microplastic contamination in Central European inland waterways.

2018 Geology Geophysics & Environment 25 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Analysis, prevalence and impact of microplastics in freshwater and estuarine environments: an evidence review

This systematic review summarized the existing research on microplastics in freshwater rivers, lakes, and estuaries. It found that current microplastic levels in most freshwater environments are below the concentrations that cause lethal harm to aquatic life, but the highest-pollution sites may already pose risks for subtler health effects on fish and other organisms. The review also highlighted that different sampling methods produce very different results, making it hard to compare studies.

2020 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics pollution in groundwater: Case study - Slovenia

Researchers investigated microplastic pollution in Slovenian groundwater, which supplies drinking water to 98% of the population, characterizing MP occurrence, transport, and risk across multiple aquifer systems affected by urban, industrial, and agricultural activities.

2024
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in lakes and rivers: an issue of emerging significance to limnology

Researchers found that microplastic concentrations in freshwater lakes and rivers can exceed those of living organisms like zooplankton, with sediment levels matching the most contaminated marine sites, establishing microplastics as a significant issue for limnology.

2021 Environmental Reviews 141 citations
Article Tier 2

Detekce mikroplastů v životním prostředí

This Czech bachelor's thesis provides an overview of microplastics as environmental pollutants, covering their sources, detection methods, and potential health risks for humans and other organisms. It notes that research in the past decade has confirmed that long-term microplastic exposure causes increasingly serious biological effects.

2018 Digital Repository (National Repository of Grey Literature)
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Austrian rivers

This German-language review summarizes published research on microplastic contamination in Austrian rivers, with a focus on the Danube. The paper compares findings across studies, identifies methodological inconsistencies, and recommends improvements to sampling and identification approaches for future river microplastic monitoring.

2020 FH JOANNEUM ePUB
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution in Slovenia's groundwater.

Researchers investigated microplastic pollution in Slovenia's groundwater, documenting contamination pathways from urban, agricultural, and industrial activities and assessing the extent to which synthetic particles have infiltrated subsurface drinking water sources in a country where groundwater supplies approximately 98% of drinking water.

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

Microplastic pollution in lakes and lake shoreline sediments – A case study on Lake Bolsena and Lake Chiusi (central Italy)

Researchers surveyed a lake and its shoreline sediments for microplastic pollution, documenting contamination levels and particle characteristics and finding that shoreline sediments accumulated higher concentrations than open water.

2016 Environmental Pollution 586 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution in Slovenia's groundwater.

Researchers investigated microplastic pollution in Slovenia's groundwater, examining how microplastics from urban, agricultural, and industrial activities enter and distribute through subsurface water systems in a country where groundwater supplies approximately 98% of drinking water.

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

Microplastic pollution in the surface waters of Italian Subalpine Lakes

Surface water samples from Italian subalpine lakes were found to contain microplastics, including fibers and fragments, at concentrations suggesting atmospheric deposition and local tourism as contributing sources. The study extends microplastic monitoring to high-altitude freshwater lakes, showing that even remote mountain water bodies are affected by plastic pollution.

2018 Environmental Pollution 368 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Polish Inland Waters: CurrentKnowledge, Methodological Limitations,and Research Needs

Researchers reviewed 33 studies on microplastic contamination in Polish rivers, lakes, and groundwater, finding concentrations ranging from 0 to 280 particles per liter in water and up to 120,000 particles per kilogram in sediments. The review highlights that inconsistent sampling and identification methods make it nearly impossible to compare results across studies, calling for standardized national monitoring.

2026 Polish Journal of Environmental Studies