The DOI matches its Crossref record; 19 of the 19 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Questions of size and numbers in environmental research on microplastics: methodological and conceptual aspects
Open accessAbstract
Environmental context: Microplastics, either purposefully manufactured or formed by fragmentation of discarded ‘end-of-life’ macroplastic items, are accumulating in environmental compartments. As more and more data are collected on microplastics in the environment, discussion of two issues has become indispensable: (i) how reliable are the results in terms of the inherent capabilities and limitations of current methods used for sampling, counting and measuring microplastic particles; and (ii) how can the fate of microplastics be understood in the context of natural particles and colloids? A first important step in evaluating the impact of microplastic pollution in natural systems is assessing the reliability of the results obtained according to the inherent capabilities and limitations of the methods used for sampling, counting and measuring microplastic particles. This study, based on the critical reading of 55 studies containing quantitative microplastic data in waters and sediments, is an attempt to analyse these issues in the light of existing knowledge in the field of natural colloid studies. Existing results are highly dependent on the sampling and methodological procedure chosen and are essentially descriptive. Moreover, often they lack standardisation and adequate reporting of basic information such as the meaning of the size parameter measured. Colloid theory may provide the theoretical background needed to explain microplastic behaviour or, at least, to identify the parameters (e.g. density, surface characteristics, shape) that need to be known in order to gain a predictive knowledge of the subject. They are introduced and discussed. Finally, microplastics are not alone in environmental compartments. For this reason, when possible, published microplastic particle size distributions in natural waters have been quantitatively situated in the context of natural particles.
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Cites
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“[4] Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Indian Ocean Deep-sea sediments (some 12 years old) ~1000 m deep 8: upper 1 cm; 4: 2, 5 cm 12 No sieving mentioned 8 samples: flotation (concentrated NaCl), filtration (size not given) 4 samples: flotation (Ludox-TM 40), centrifugation, filtration 32 μm FTIR”
BackgroundMicroplastic pollution in the surface waters of the Laurentian Great Lakes
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Microplastic pollution in deep-sea sediments
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Cited by
Arctic sea ice is an important temporal sink and means of transport for microplastic
Peeken, I., Primpke, S., Beyer, B., Gütermann, J., Katlein, C., Krumpen, T., Bergmann, M., Hehemann, L., & Gerdts, G. (2018) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03825-5 · Cited by 1,066
Plastics in the Marine Environment
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Nanoplastic in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre
Ter Halle, A., Jeanneau, L., Martignac, M., Jardé, E., Pedrono, B., Brach, L., & Gigault, J. (2017) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.7b03667 · Cited by 897
Distribution of plastic polymer types in the marine environment; A meta-analysis
Erni-Cassola, G., Zadjelovic, V., Gibson, M. I., & Christie-Oleza, J. A. (2019) · Journal of Hazardous Materials · doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.02.067 · Cited by 874
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Metadata
- Authors
- Filella, M.
- Venue
- Environmental Chemistry
- Publisher
- CSIRO Publishing
- Published
- 2015-08-14
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 527-538
- ISSN
- 1448-2517 (ISSN-L)
- 1449-8979
- OpenAlex
- W2170548275
- Cited by
- 294
- References
- 19
- FWCI
- 12.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
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