Outlook and overview of microplastics pollution in ecological environment

Abstract

Microplastics are attracting more and more attention as a new type of pollutant in the ecological environment. Microplastics are difficult to degrade because of their unique physical and chemical properties. Some microplastics adsorbed toxic chemicals (e.g. heavy metals or organic pollutants) will cause a series of toxicological effects in organisms. This paper summarized the research progress in microplastics from the aspects of the types, distribution, detection and the toxicological effects. In addition, future research directions were also proposed and discussed.

Living in the Plastic Age

“…Notably, laypeople most commonly associate plastic and microplastics with pollution in the environment in general and the ocean in particular (Dilkes-Hoffman et al 2019). Laypeople seem to often fail to recognize that microplastics also migrate among the atmosphere, freshwater, soil and different creatures (Bin et al 2020). Further research could investigate whether people are able to understand that microplastics can also be released into these environments and the impacts this could have, such as harmful effects on wildlife.…”

Potential Impact of Urban Land Use on Microplastic Atmospheric Deposition: A Case Study in Pristina City, Kosovo

“…Additionally, these studies have often been constrained by a limited number of samples [18]. Despite the fact that extensive research on the identification, segregation and toxicity of microplastics has been conducted, there are still many problems to be solved because microplastic pollution is a long-term process that requires systematic and in-depth research [19]. Additionally, due to their widespread distribution and increasing presence in the environment, MPs are among the most obvious environmental issues facing government agencies worldwide [20,21].…”

Plastic ingestion in Asian elephants in the forested landscapes of Uttarakhand, India

“…Plastic pollution has been recognized as one of the major drivers of change in global environment, influencing ecosystem processes as well as human well-being (Hernandez-Gonzalez et al, 2018;Malizia & Monmany-Garzia, 2019). Plastic being difficult to degrade in the environment (Bin et al, 2020) has become ubiquitous in all ecosystems (Malizia & Monmany-Garzia, 2019;Townsend et al, 2019). Owing to extensive use of single-use plastic, poor disposal and lack of recycling, plastic particles have accumulated in terrestrial habitats (Barnes et al, 2009) including mountains, rivers, forests, oceans (Eriksen et al, 2014), within deep sea (Chiba et al, 2018), sea shores (Browne et al, 2011) and terrestrial habitats (Malizia & Monmany-Garzia, 2019).…”