College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an 625000, China; State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing 210029, China; State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China.
State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing 210029, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Dec 15;904:165979. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165979. Epub 2023 Aug 3.
Microplastics, as global emerging pollutants, have received significant attention worldwide due to their ubiquitous presence in the rivers. However, there is still a lack of clarity on the occurrence, driving factors, and ecological risks of microplastics in rivers worldwide. In this study, a global microplastic dataset based on 862 water samples and 445 sediment samples obtained from 63 articles was constructed, which revealed the temporal and spatial distribution of abundance and morphological characteristics of microplastics in rivers across the globe. In global rivers, the abundance of MPs in both water and sediment spans across 10 and 4 orders of magnitude, respectively. The MP comprehensive diversity index based on the physical morphological characteristics of MPs indicated a significant positive correlation between the pollution sources of MPs in different environmental media. Based on the data was aligned to the full-scale MPs, a novel framework was provided to evaluate the ecological risk of MPs and the interaction effects between the influencing factors driving the distribution characteristics of MPs in rivers around the world. The results obtained demonstrated a wide variation in the key driving factors affecting the distribution of microplastics in different environmental media (water and sediment) in rivers globally. The diversity indices of the morphological characteristics of MPs in densely populated areas of lower-middle income countries in Asia were significantly higher, implying that the sources of microplastics in these regions are more complex and extensive. More than half of the rivers are exposed to potential ecological risks of MPs; however, microplastics may pose only immediate risks to aquatic species in Burigang River, Bangladesh. This can provide valuable insights for formulating more effective scientific strategies for the management of MP pollution in rivers.
微塑料作为全球性新兴污染物，因其在河流中普遍存在而受到全球关注。然而，对于全球河流中微塑料的发生、驱动因素和生态风险仍缺乏清晰的认识。本研究构建了一个基于全球 63 篇文献中 862 个水样和 445 个沉积物样的微塑料数据集，揭示了全球河流中微塑料的时空分布及形态特征。在全球河流中， MPs 在水中和沉积物中的丰度跨度分别跨越了 10 和 4 个数量级。基于 MPs 的物理形态特征构建的 MPs 综合多样性指数表明，不同环境介质中 MPs 的污染源之间存在显著的正相关关系。基于该数据集与全尺度 MPs 的对齐，提出了一个新的框架来评估 MPs 的生态风险以及影响因素对全球河流中 MPs 分布特征的相互作用。结果表明，全球河流中不同环境介质（水和沉积物）中影响微塑料分布的关键驱动因素存在广泛的差异。亚洲中下收入国家人口稠密地区 MPs 形态特征的多样性指数显著较高，这意味着这些地区的微塑料来源更加复杂和广泛。超过一半的河流面临着 MPs 的潜在生态风险；然而，微塑料可能仅对孟加拉国 Burigang 河的水生物种构成直接威胁。这为制定更有效的河流中 MPs 污染管理科学策略提供了有价值的见解。
