Microplastic in the Environment: Pattern and Process

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

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2. The Microplastic Cycle: An Introduction to a Complex Issue

   • Michael S. Bank, Sophia V. Hansson

   Pages 1-16Open Access

3. Analytical Chemistry of Plastic Debris: Sampling, Methods, and Instrumentation

   • Robert C. Hale, Meredith E. Seeley, Ashley E. King, Lehuan H. Yu

   Pages 17-67Open Access

4. Evaluating Microplastic Experimental Design and Exposure Studies in Aquatic Organisms

   • Puspa L. Adhikari, Wokil Bam, Pamela L. Campbell, Francois Oberhaensli, Marc Metian, Marc Besson et al.

   Pages 69-85Open Access

5. Microplastics in Terrestrial and Freshwater Environments

   • Emilie M. F. Kallenbach, Elisabeth S. Rødland, Nina T. Buenaventura, Rachel Hurley

   Pages 87-130Open Access

6. Marine Microplastics and Seafood: Implications for Food Security

   • Anne-Katrine Lundebye, Amy L. Lusher, Michael S. Bank

   Pages 131-153Open Access

7. Weight of Evidence for the Microplastic Vector Effect in the Context of Chemical Risk Assessment

   • Albert A. Koelmans, Noël J. Diepens, Nur Hazimah Mohamed Nor

   Pages 155-197Open Access

8. Ecotoxicological Impacts of Micro- and Nanoplastics in Terrestrial and Aquatic Environments

   • Tânia Gomes, Agathe Bour, Claire Coutris, Ana Catarina Almeida, Inger Lise Bråte, Raoul Wolf et al.

   Pages 199-260Open Access

9. Dietary Exposure to Additives and Sorbed Contaminants from Ingested Microplastic Particles Through the Consumption of Fisheries and Aquaculture Products

   • Esther Garrido Gamarro, Violetta Costanzo

   Pages 261-310Open Access

10. The Microplastic-Antibiotic Resistance Connection

    • Nachiket P. Marathe, Michael S. Bank

    Pages 311-322Open Access

11. The United Nations Basel Convention’s Global Plastic Waste Partnership: History, Evolution and Progress

    • Susan Wingfield, Melisa Lim

    Pages 323-331Open Access

12. Solutions to Plastic Pollution: A Conceptual Framework to Tackle a Wicked Problem

    • Martin Wagner

    Pages 333-352Open Access

13. Back Matter

    Pages 353-354

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This open access book examines global plastic pollution, an issue that has become a critical societal challenge with implications for environmental and public health. This volume provides a comprehensive, holistic analysis on the plastic cycle and its subsequent effects on biota, food security, and human exposure. Importantly, global environmental change and its associated, systems-level processes, including atmospheric deposition, ecosystem complexity, UV exposure, wind patterns, water stratification, ocean circulation, etc., are all important direct and indirect factors governing the fate, transport and biotic and abiotic processing of plastic particles across ecosystem types. Furthermore, the distribution of plastic in the ocean is not independent of terrestrial ecosystem dynamics, since much of the plastic in marine ecosystems originates from land and should therefore be evaluated in the context of the larger plastic cycle. Changes in species size, distribution, habitat, and food web complexity, due to global environmental change, will likely alter trophic transfer dynamics and the ecological effects of nano- and microplastics. The fate and transport dynamics of plastic particles are influenced by their size, form, shape, polymer type, additives, and overall ecosystem conditions. In addition to the risks that plastics pose to the total environment, the potential impacts on human health and exposure routes, including seafood consumption, and air and drinking water need to be assessed in a comprehensive and quantitative manner. Here I present a holistic and interdisciplinary book volume designed to advance the understanding of plastic cycling in the environment with an emphasis on sources, fate and transport, ecotoxicology, climate change effects, food security, microbiology, sustainability, human exposure and public policy.

• biomonitoring of plastic particles
• exotoxicology of plastic pollution
• plastic debris
• microplastics
• nanoplastics
• environmental health
• wastewater management
• open access

• Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway

  Michael S. Bank

Dr. Michael S. Bank is a Senior Scientist at the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, Norway. Michael also holds an appointment as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Contaminants and Complex Systems at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in USA. Michael serves on several expert committees and does advising on contaminants for several international environmental agencies.