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Occurrence Characteristics and Ecotoxic Effects of Microplastics in Environmental Media: a Mini Review

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Abstract

The issue of environmental pollution caused by the widespread presence of microplastics (MPs) in environmental media has garnered significant attention. However, research on MPs pollution has mainly focused on aquatic ecosystems in recent years. The sources and pollution characteristics of MPs in the environment, especially in solid waste, have not been well-described. Additionally, there are few reports on the ecotoxicity of MPs, which highlights the need to fill this gap. This review first summarizes the occurrence characteristics of MPs in water, soil, and marine environments, and then provides an overview of their toxic effects on organisms and the relevant mechanisms. This paper also provides an outlook on the hotspots of research on pollution characterization and ecotoxicity of MPs. Finally, this review aims to provide insights for future ecotoxicity control of MPs. Overall, this paper expands our understanding of the pollution characteristics and ecological toxicity of MPs in current environmental media, providing forward-looking guidance for future research.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the project of Taishan Scholar Engneering Program (NO. tsqn202306235), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2023T160349 and No. 2019M660162), Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration (SHUES2022A09), Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Biotransformation of Organic Solid Waste (SERC2020C05).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Qingdao University of Technology, Qingdao, 266520, China

    Yuxin Wang, Zhou Fu, Dezheng Guan, Jianwei Zhao, Jingliang Xie & Yingjie Sun

  2. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Qingdao Jiebao Ecological Technology Co., Ltd., Qingdao, 266000, China

    Qi Zhang & Qingxin Liu

  3. China Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental and Ecology, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Liang Guo

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  1. Yuxin Wang
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Contributions

Yuxin Wang: Writing—original draft. Zhou Fu: Writing—review & editing. Dezheng Guan: Methodology, Writing—review & editing. Jianwei Zhao: Project administration, Supervision, Funding acquisition. Qi Zhang: Methodology. Qingxin Liu and Liang Guo: Writing—review & editing. Jingliang Xie and Yingjie Sun: Project administration.

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Correspondence to Jianwei Zhao or Yingjie Sun.

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Wang, Y., Fu, Z., Guan, D. et al. Occurrence Characteristics and Ecotoxic Effects of Microplastics in Environmental Media: a Mini Review. Appl Biochem Biotechnol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-023-04832-z

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