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Cited by 221

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 16 of the 16 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Microplastic hotspots in the Snake and Lower Columbia rivers: A journey from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to the Pacific Ocean

Open access
Kapp, Kirsten J., Yeatman, Ellen·2018·Environmental Pollution

Abstract

It is widely understood that microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous in the marine environment yet less is known about MP abundance in freshwater rivers, particularly those of the western United States. This study documents MP pollution along the Snake River (~1735 km) and from its confluence with the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. Grab and plankton net samples (mesh size 100 μm) were collected from the top 25 cm of surface water every 80.5 river km. MPs were identified if they met visual criteria and were verified with the hot needle test. A small representative subset of MPs from the net samples (16.7%) were selected based on appearance for micro-Raman spectroscopy in effort to provide examples of polymer types found in this study. Seventy-five percent of grab samples and 92.8% of net samples contained MPs, with concentrations ranging from 0 to 5.405 MPs L−1 and 0 to 0.014 MP L−1 (0 to 13.7 MP m−3), respectively. The majority of fragments, films and beads were between 100 μm-333 μm. This study identifies potential hotspots of MP pollution along the Snake and Lower Columbia rivers and prioritizes areas where more intensive sampling is needed. Sites with low flow or those further down river had higher numbers and the top two hotspots were located in areas with low population density but high agricultural use. Monitoring MP abundance in freshwater systems is important for establishing baseline levels of MP pollution and can direct laboratory toxicology studies in using more environmentally relevant concentrations for a better indication of how MP pollution affects ecosystems.

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Metadata

Authors
Kapp, K. J., & Yeatman, E.
Venue
Environmental Pollution
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2018-10
Volume
241
Pages
1082-1090
ISSN
0269-7491 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2808325144
Cited by
221
References
16
FWCI
7.95
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
bronze

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Microplastic hotspots in the Snake and Lower Columbia rivers: A journey from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to the Pacific Ocean. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1016/j.envpol.2018.06.033
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Kapp, K. J., & Yeatman, E. (2018). Microplastic hotspots in the Snake and Lower Columbia rivers: A journey from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to the Pacific Ocean. Environmental Pollution. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2018.06.033

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Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.