Page - 1 - in Freshwater Microplastics - Emerging Environmental Contaminants?

MicroplasticsAreContaminants ofEmerging Concern inFreshwaterEnvironments:An Overview ScottLambert andMartinWagner Abstract In recent years, interest in the environmental occurrence and effects of microplastics (MPs) has shifted towards our inlandwaters, and in this chapterwe provide an overview of the issues thatmay be of concern for freshwater environ- ments. The term ‘contaminant of emerging concern’does not only apply to chem- ical pollutants but to MPs as well because it has been detected ubiquitously in freshwater systems. The environmental release of MPs will occur from a wide varietyof sources, includingemissions fromwastewater treatmentplants and from thedegradationof largerplasticdebris items.Duetothechemicalmakeupofplastic materials, receiving environments are potentially exposed to amixture ofmicro- and nano-sized particles, leached additives, and subsequent degradation products, which will become bioavailable for a range of biota. The ingestion of MPs by aquatic organisms has been demonstrated, but the long-termeffects of continuous exposures are less well understood. Technological developments and changes in demographicswill influence the typesofMPsandenvironmental concentrations in the future, and itwill be important to develop approaches tomitigate the input of synthetic polymers to freshwater ecosystems. Keywords Degradation, Ecosystem effects, Fate, Pollutants, Polymers, Sources, Toxicity S.Lambert (*) DepartmentAquaticEcotoxicology,GoetheUniversityFrankfurt amMain, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438Frankfurt amMain,Germany e-mail: scottl210@hotmail.co.uk M.Wagner Department ofBiology,NorwegianUniversity ofScience andTechnology (NTNU), Trondheim,Norway M.Wagner, S.Lambert (eds.),FreshwaterMicroplastics, HdbEnvChem58,DOI10.1007/978-3-319-61615-5_1, ©TheAuthor(s) 2018 1