Factors influencing the vertical distribution and transport of plastics in riverine environments: Theoretical background and implications for improved field study design

IF 7.6 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environmental Pollution Pub Date : 2025-03-27 DOI:10.1016/j.envpol.2025.126151

Jenna Brooks, Julia Hopkins

{"title":"Factors influencing the vertical distribution and transport of plastics in riverine environments: Theoretical background and implications for improved field study design","authors":"Jenna Brooks, Julia Hopkins","doi":"10.1016/j.envpol.2025.126151","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rivers have been widely recognized as important conduits and accumulation sites for plastics. Accurately describing plastic fate and transport in these systems is essential for the development of numerical models, estimating loads to oceans, and implementing effective management strategies. However, plastic transport mechanisms within fluvial environments are not well understood, and field studies often do not provide sufficient information to test analytical models of transport. Sediment transport has dynamical similarities to plastics transport in water bodies, enough to warrant further investigation into how principles from sediment transport can be used to guide the study of plastics. In this review, we summarize fundamentals from sediment transport research and their application to plastics, then use these to make suggestions of clarifying research questions and riverine field study design with the goal of generating more insightful data that can be used to understand and predict plastic fate and transport. We focus specifically on factors influencing plastic vertical distribution and movement in the water column, as variations in this direction have historically been overlooked or oversimplified in rivers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":311,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Pollution","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 126151"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environmental Pollution","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026974912500524X","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Rivers have been widely recognized as important conduits and accumulation sites for plastics. Accurately describing plastic fate and transport in these systems is essential for the development of numerical models, estimating loads to oceans, and implementing effective management strategies. However, plastic transport mechanisms within fluvial environments are not well understood, and field studies often do not provide sufficient information to test analytical models of transport. Sediment transport has dynamical similarities to plastics transport in water bodies, enough to warrant further investigation into how principles from sediment transport can be used to guide the study of plastics. In this review, we summarize fundamentals from sediment transport research and their application to plastics, then use these to make suggestions of clarifying research questions and riverine field study design with the goal of generating more insightful data that can be used to understand and predict plastic fate and transport. We focus specifically on factors influencing plastic vertical distribution and movement in the water column, as variations in this direction have historically been overlooked or oversimplified in rivers.

Abstract Image

查看原文本刊更多论文

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Environmental Pollution 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

16.00

自引率

6.70%

发文量

2082

审稿时长

2.9 months

期刊介绍： Environmental Pollution is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes high-quality research papers and review articles covering all aspects of environmental pollution and its impacts on ecosystems and human health. Subject areas include, but are not limited to: • Sources and occurrences of pollutants that are clearly defined and measured in environmental compartments, food and food-related items, and human bodies; • Interlinks between contaminant exposure and biological, ecological, and human health effects, including those of climate change; • Contaminants of emerging concerns (including but not limited to antibiotic resistant microorganisms or genes, microplastics/nanoplastics, electronic wastes, light, and noise) and/or their biological, ecological, or human health effects; • Laboratory and field studies on the remediation/mitigation of environmental pollution via new techniques and with clear links to biological, ecological, or human health effects; • Modeling of pollution processes, patterns, or trends that is of clear environmental and/or human health interest; • New techniques that measure and examine environmental occurrences, transport, behavior, and effects of pollutants within the environment or the laboratory, provided that they can be clearly used to address problems within regional or global environmental compartments.