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Environmental Sources
30,716 resultsMicroplastics in the Marine Environment: A Review of the Methods Used for Identification and Quantification
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This review covered the methods used to identify and characterize microplastics in marine environmental samples, evaluating the strengths and limitations of visual, spectroscopic, and chemical approaches for field and laboratory analysis.
Plastic Pollution in the World's Oceans: More than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea
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Researchers conducted the first global estimate of floating plastic debris in the oceans, finding more than 5 trillion pieces weighing over 250,000 tonnes at the sea surface, establishing a widely cited baseline for understanding the scale of ocean plastic pollution.
Accumulation of Microplastic on Shorelines Woldwide: Sources and Sinks
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Researchers found microplastic contamination on shorelines across all six continents, with higher concentrations near densely populated areas. A major source appears to be synthetic clothing fibers released during laundry, with a single garment shedding over 1,900 fibers per wash that pass through wastewater treatment and end up in the ocean.
River plastic emissions to the world’s oceans
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Researchers built a global model to estimate how much plastic waste enters the ocean from rivers, combining data on waste management, population density, and water flow patterns. They estimated that rivers deliver between 1.15 and 2.41 million tonnes of plastic to the oceans annually, with over 74% of emissions occurring between May and October. The top 20 polluting rivers, mostly in Asia, accounted for 67% of the global total, providing key data for targeting cleanup and prevention efforts.
Microplastics in freshwater and terrestrial environments: Evaluating the current understanding to identify the knowledge gaps and future research priorities
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This review evaluates the current understanding of microplastic pollution in freshwater and terrestrial environments, which have received far less research attention than marine systems despite being major sources and accumulation zones. Researchers highlight that agricultural areas, urban centers, and wastewater treatment processes are key pathways for microplastic contamination on land. The paper identifies critical knowledge gaps and calls for more research into how microplastics behave and persist in soils and freshwater systems.
On the Construction and Comparison of Difference Schemes
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This classic numerical methods paper by Gilbert Strang analyzed the construction and comparison of finite difference schemes for solving differential equations — a foundational computational mathematics reference unrelated to microplastics research that appears to have been included in this dataset in error.
Emerging threats and persistent conservation challenges for freshwater biodiversity
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This review provides a comprehensive overview of microplastic pollution in freshwater environments, covering sources, distribution, and ecological impacts in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. Researchers found that freshwater microplastic contamination is widespread globally but that standardized sampling and analysis methods are still lacking. The study calls for more consistent research approaches so that contamination levels across different water bodies can be meaningfully compared.
Plastic and Human Health: A Micro Issue?
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This review evaluates the potential human health impacts of microplastic exposure through food and air, drawing on evidence from particle toxicology and related fields. Researchers note that if inhaled or ingested, microplastics could accumulate in tissues and cause localized inflammation, while chemical additives and adsorbed pollutants may leach out and cause additional toxic effects. The paper emphasizes that chronic, long-term exposure is likely the greater concern, though current data on actual human exposure levels remains limited.
Plastic debris in the open ocean
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Researchers collected and characterized plastic debris floating in the open ocean far from coastlines, documenting its abundance, polymer composition, and size distribution, providing early baseline data on the open-ocean plastic pollution problem.
Are We Speaking the Same Language? Recommendations for a Definition and Categorization Framework for Plastic Debris
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This review examines the full lifecycle of microplastic pollution, from how plastics enter waterways to how they degrade and interact with ecosystems. Researchers found that microplastics serve as carriers for chemical pollutants and pathogens, and that their small size allows them to be ingested by a wide range of organisms across the food chain. The study emphasizes that understanding the fate and transport of microplastics is essential for developing effective pollution mitigation strategies.
Distribution and importance of microplastics in the marine environment: A review of the sources, fate, effects, and potential solutions
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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.
Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Aquatic Environments: Aggregation, Deposition, and Enhanced Contaminant Transport
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This review examined the aggregation, deposition, and transport of microplastics and nanoplastics in aquatic environments, synthesizing how particle properties and water chemistry govern their fate and mobility in rivers, lakes, and oceans.
Microplastics in freshwaters and drinking water: Critical review and assessment of data quality
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Researchers critically reviewed fifty studies on microplastics in freshwater and drinking water and found significant quality issues, including inconsistent sampling methods and inadequate contamination controls. Many studies lacked proper quality assurance, making it difficult to draw reliable conclusions about actual contamination levels. The study emphasizes that standardized methods are urgently needed before the true extent of microplastic contamination in drinking water can be assessed.
Ingested Microscopic Plastic Translocates to the Circulatory System of the Mussel, Mytilus edulis (L.)
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Researchers discovered that microplastic particles ingested by mussels can move from the gut into the circulatory system within three days and persist in the body for over 48 days. Smaller particles accumulated more readily than larger ones, suggesting that as plastic debris breaks down into ever-smaller fragments in the environment, the potential for it to build up inside living organisms increases.
Microplastics as an emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems
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This paper highlights microplastics as an overlooked threat to terrestrial ecosystems, noting that most plastic pollution originates on land before reaching the oceans. Researchers discuss evidence that microplastics interact with soil organisms, fungi, and pollinators that provide essential ecosystem services. The study calls for urgent research into how microplastics affect land-based environments, which may be experiencing significant but understudied ecological impacts.
Waste Mismanagement in Developing Countries: A Review of Global Issues
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This narrative review examines the global environmental and social consequences of solid waste mismanagement in developing countries, documenting how open dumping and burning drive marine litter, air and soil contamination, and serious health risks for informal waste pickers, while calling for integrated waste collection and treatment systems to address these interconnected crises.
Uptake and Accumulation of Polystyrene Microplastics in Zebrafish (Danio rerio) and Toxic Effects in Liver
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Researchers exposed zebrafish to polystyrene microplastics of two different sizes and tracked where the particles accumulated in the body. They found that smaller particles (5 micrometers) built up in the gills, liver, and gut, while larger particles (20 micrometers) mainly stayed in the gills and gut. The microplastics caused liver inflammation, oxidative stress, and disrupted fat metabolism, suggesting that ingested microplastics can damage internal organs in fish.
Microplastics Can Change Soil Properties and Affect Plant Performance
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Researchers tested six different types of microplastics in soil and found that they altered key soil properties including water-holding capacity, bulk density, and microbial activity. These changes in soil structure had cascading effects on plant growth, with some microplastic types reducing above-ground biomass. The study demonstrates that microplastics can fundamentally change how soil functions, with consequences for plant health and ecosystem stability.
The deep sea is a major sink for microplastic debris
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Researchers analyzed deep-sea sediments from the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Indian Ocean and found microplastic fibers up to 4 orders of magnitude more concentrated than at the contaminated sea surface, identifying the deep seafloor as a vast and previously unknown repository of the world's 'missing' plastic.
Microplastic pollution in the surface waters of the Laurentian Great Lakes
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Researchers documented microplastic pollution across the surface waters of the Laurentian Great Lakes, finding contamination in all lakes sampled — particularly Lake Erie — with fibers as the dominant particle type, highlighting plastic pollution in a critical freshwater system.
A Detailed Review Study on Potential Effects of Microplastics and Additives of Concern on Human Health
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This detailed review examines the potential health effects of microplastics and the chemical additives they contain, which can include plasticizers, flame retardants, and stabilizers. Researchers describe how humans are exposed to these hazardous chemicals through ingestion, inhalation, and skin contact as microplastics break down in the environment. The study emphasizes that the combination of physical particle effects and chemical toxicity makes microplastics a uniquely complex health concern.
Oyster reproduction is affected by exposure to polystyrene microplastics
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Researchers exposed Pacific oysters to polystyrene microplastics during their reproductive period and found significant impacts on their ability to reproduce. Exposed oysters produced fewer and smaller egg cells and slower-swimming sperm, resulting in fewer offspring that also developed more slowly. The study demonstrates that microplastic pollution could threaten the reproductive success of commercially and ecologically important shellfish populations.
Impacts of Microplastics on the Soil Biophysical Environment
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Four common microplastic types (polyacrylic fibers, polyamide beads, polyester fibers, PE fragments) were added to loamy sand soil at environmentally relevant concentrations in a garden experiment and effects on soil-water relationships, structure, and microbial function were measured over 5 weeks. Results showed that microplastics altered water repellency, aggregate stability, and microbial activity in a plastic-type-dependent manner, confirming that microplastics can disrupt fundamental soil biophysical processes.
Plastic waste in the marine environment: A review of sources, occurrence and effects
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This review covered the sources, occurrence, and ecological effects of plastic waste in the marine environment, synthesizing evidence on how plastic pollution enters the ocean, where it accumulates, and what harm it causes to marine life.