Global distribution of microplastics and its impact on marine environment—a review

Microplastics are the major environmental health hazards spotted in almost all the marine habitats and biota of world. The earlier research on microplastics have mainly focused on studying abundance and distribution as well as impacts on organisms, while the existing review articles have reviewed on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science and pollution research international 2020-07, Vol.27 (21), p.25970-25986
Main Authors: Ajith, Nithin, Arumugam, Sundaramanickam, Parthasarathy, Surya, Manupoori, Sathish, Janakiraman, Sivamani
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Aquatic habitats
Aquatic Pollution
Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution
Biota
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecosystem
Ecotoxicology
Environment
Environmental Chemistry
Environmental hazards
Environmental Health
Environmental impact
Environmental Monitoring
Environmental science
Health hazards
High density polyethylenes
Marine environment
Microplastics
Open access publishing
Organisms
Plastic pollution
Plastics
Polyethylene terephthalate
Polymers
Review Article
Reviews
Sediments
Turtles
Waste Water Technology
Water Management
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
Water Pollution Control
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Summary:Microplastics are the major environmental health hazards spotted in almost all the marine habitats and biota of world. The earlier research on microplastics have mainly focused on studying abundance and distribution as well as impacts on organisms, while the existing review articles have reviewed on any one of the above aspects or the environmental fate of microplastics. The current review focuses on all the above facets thereby bringing out the incompleteness in information globally in the respective facets. Our findings suggest that among 192 countries of the world, only 22.9% (44) of the countries have carried out research regarding microplastics, while impacts on organisms have mostly targeted fish (38%), whereas studies on other highly affected organisms such as turtles (1%) are not well documented. Therefore, we suggest expanding research in all the above aspects of microplastics considering that there are several pristine marine environments and organisms that are yet unexplored. Quantifying research in these regards would enable to propose a microplastic threshold level and formulate control measures to reduce the use of plastics and its subsequent threat to the marine environment.
ISSN:0944-1344
1614-7499
DOI:10.1007/s11356-020-09015-5