Microplastic pollution in the rivers of the Tibet Plateau

Jiang, Changbo; Yin, Lingshi; Li, Zhiwei; Wen, Xiaofeng; Luo, Xin; Hu, Shuping; Yang, Hanyuan; Long, Yuannan; Deng, Bin; Huang, Lingzhi; Liu, Yizhuang

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2019.03.022

Cited by 403 publications

(126 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…As mentioned in Section 2.1, a crucial reason for MP spreading worldwide is the atmospheric transport: atmosphere is an extremely dynamic compartment and MP have been detected in the most remote areas of the Earth, including the polar region [64] and the Tibetan plateau's rivers and lakes [65,66]. In particular, the Tibetan plateau is also known as the "Third Pole", hosting a huge number of glaciers and lakes and being situated far from urban, industrial and agricultural activities.…”

Section: Occurrence Of Microplastics In the Atmospheric Depositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric Micro and Nanoplastics: An Enormous Microscopic Problem

Bianco

Passananti

2020

Sustainability

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Atmospheric plastic pollution is now a global problem. Microplastics (MP) have been detected in urban atmospheres as well as in remote and pristine environments, showing that suspension, deposition and aeolian transport of MP should be included and considered as a major transport pathway in the plastic life cycle. This work reports an up to date review of the experimental estimation of deposition rate of MP in rural and urban environment, also analyzing the correlation with meteorological factors. Due to the limitations in sampling and instrumental methodology, little is known about MP and nanoplastics (NP) with sizes lower than 50 µm. In this review, we describe how NP could be transported for longer distances than MP, making them globally present and potentially more concentrated than MP. We highlight that it is crucial to explore new methodologies to collect and analyze NP. Future research should focus on the development of new technologies, combining the existent knowledge on nanomaterial and atmospheric particle analysis.

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Section: Occurrence Of Microplastics In the Atmospheric Depositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric Micro and Nanoplastics: An Enormous Microscopic Problem

Bianco

Passananti

2020

Sustainability

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“…Relatively high-density plastics, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC, density 1.20-1.45 g cm −3 ; Avio et al 2017) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET, a polyester with a density of 1.38-1.39 g cm −3 ; Avio et al 2017), regularly settle out of the water column. Consequentially, PVC and PET, which are materials for plastic sewers, tubes and beverage bottles (Oberbeckmann et al 2016), are often found in freshwater sediments (Ehlers et al 2019;Jiang et al 2019). Once in the sediment, MPs are encountered by benthic organisms and are often consumed (Hurley et al 2017;Mohsen et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

PVC and PET microplastics in caddisfly (Lepidostoma basale) cases reduce case stability

Ehlers

Najjar

Taupp

et al. 2020

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Caddisfly larvae occur in streams and rivers, and many caddisfly species build protective cases using material from their habitat such as sand grains. At the same time, microplastics (MPs) are regularly deposited in aquatic sediments and are incorporated into caddisfly (Lepidostoma basale) cases in the field. However, it is unknown what the effects of MP incorporation into cases might be on the health of the caddisfly larvae. Hence, we offered two commonly used MPs (polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET)) to L. basale larvae during a laboratory experiment. Both plastic types have a high density and co-occur with L. basale larvae in benthic habitats. In our experiment, L. basale actively used sand, PET and PVC MPs for building tube-like portable or emergency cases. The latter is a temporary shelter under which the larva can hide for immediate protection. Furthermore, case stability decreased with increasing PVC and PET particle content in the cases, suggesting that MPs may threaten caddisflies by destabilising cases. When case stability is reduced, the protective function of the cases is limited and the larvae may be more prone to predation. Additionally, larvae may be washed away by the current as plastic is lighter than sand. Both effects could limit the caddisfly's survival, which could have far-reaching consequences as caddisfly larvae are important primary consumers in aquatic ecosystems.

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“…Comparatively, MPs in the other freshwater studies were also reported with relatively high abundances recorded in areas such as Pearl River, China (mean 2724 item/m 3 ), Yongjiang River (mean 2345 item/m 3 ), Nansha Islands, China (1773 item/m 3 ), Nakdong River, Korea (mean 4760 item/m 3 ), rivers of the Tibet Plateau (max 967 item/m 3 ), respectively (Eo et al 2019;Jiang et al 2019;Lin et al 2018;Nie et al 2019). Rivers along urban areas experience greater impact of MP concentrations.…”

Section: Figure 2 Variation Of Mps Abundance In Water Samples Of Sunmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…A film however appears in the shape of slices, and pellets comprised a three-dimensional sphere (Jiang et al 2019;Nie et al 2019).…”

Section: Study Area and Sample Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

2020

JSM

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Scientific documentation on (Microplastics) MPs abundance in Malaysian waters is still limited and not fully understood. In this study, MPs occurrence in Sungai Dungun, Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia was analysed. Sampling method was based on sieving 200 µm of bulk water to collect surface water samples from five sites in the vicinity of potential source for MP abundance. Characterisation of MPs was accomplished by gravimetric and digital image processing (for quantification and morphology categorisation), and chemical composition identified by attenuated total reflectance-Fourier infrared spectroscopy. The range concentration of MPs was 22.8 to 300.8 items/m 3 (mean 102.8 item/m 3). It was recorded that most of the MPs found were black and transparent. The most frequent morphotypes were fibres, followed by fragments. Polypropylene (C 3 H 6)n, polyacrylonitrile (C 3 H 3 N)n and rayon were the dominant polymertypes of MPs analysed in this work. Metals (Pb < As < Mn < Zn < Cu < Fe < Al) found within the MPs reported varied in terms of µg/mL. This study provided new insights into the understanding of MP levels in inland Malaysian freshwater environments.

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Microplastic pollution in the rivers of the Tibet Plateau

Cited by 403 publications

References 58 publications

Atmospheric Micro and Nanoplastics: An Enormous Microscopic Problem

Atmospheric Micro and Nanoplastics: An Enormous Microscopic Problem

PVC and PET microplastics in caddisfly (Lepidostoma basale) cases reduce case stability

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