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Introduction
Plastic transport in rivers | Vegetation water stress | Hydrologic sensing | Sensing across scales
Publications
Publications (216)
Land-based macroplastic is considered one of the major sources of marine plastic debris. However, estimations of plastic emission from rivers into the oceans remain scarce and uncertain, mainly due to a severe lack of standardized observations. To properly assess global plastic fluxes, detailed information on spatiotemporal variation in river plast...
Plastic pollution in aquatic ecosystems is an emerging environmental risk, as it may negatively impacts ecology, endangers aquatic species, and causes economic damage. Rivers are known to play a crucial role in transporting land‐based plastic waste to the world's oceans, but riverine ecosystems are also directly affected by plastic pollution. To be...
Plastic pollution in the marine environment is an urgent global environmental challenge. Land-based plastics, emitted into the ocean through rivers, are believed to be the main source of marine plastic litter. According to the latest model-based estimates, most riverine plastics are emitted in Asia. However, the exact amount of global riverine plas...
Anthropogenic litter in aquatic ecosystems negatively impacts ecosystems, species and economic activities. Rivers play a key role in transporting land-based waste towards the ocean. A large portion however is retained within river basins, for example in the estuary, in sediments and on the riverbanks. To effectively identify litter sources, sinks a...
The Philippines is suggested to be one of the world's main contributors to global marine plastic pollution. Several rivers in the Manila metropolitan area are assumed to be main pathways of land-based plastic waste into the ocean. However, these model estimates remain uncertain due to a lack of field data. The main goal of this study was therefore...
Citizen science projects globally have increasingly been implemented in collecting and analysing environmental data. At the same time, these initiatives are often project-based and, therefore, of short duration. This presents a challenge as data from such activities may not be used in research and political decision-making. This research aims to ex...
As plastic pollution exists in aquatic ecosystems globally, monitoring its abundance and distribution has become crucial for understanding transport pathways, sources, sinks, and impacts. Riverbanks are accumulation zones for plastic, but the selection of monitoring methods is constrained by research goals, available resources, and site-specific co...
The Guidelines for Harmonizing Marine Litter
Monitoring Methods Using Remote Sensing
Technologies
Although Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods assess a wide range of environmental impacts, ecological impacts of plastic pollution are not commonly included. Here, characterization factors of Polypropylene (PP), Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) microplastics were assessed. Fate was assessed through the mu...
Plastic pollution is an emerging entity threatening freshwater and marine ecosystems. Rivers play an important role in the transport and retention of plastic from land to sea. Tropical rivers are among the most polluted globally, and are assumed to emit substantial amounts of plastic into the marine environment. Concurrently, tropical rivers are in...
In environmental studies, rhodamine dyes are commonly used to trace water movements and pollutant dispersion. Remote sensing techniques offer a promising approach to detecting rhodamine and estimating its concentration, enhancing our understanding of water dynamics. However, research is needed to address more complex environments, particularly opti...
During the July 2021 European floods approximately eight million empty dairy packaging (buttertubs) were flushed from a dairy processing facility in Belgium into the Vesdre river. Some were transported further downstream, into the Ourthe river and eventually the Meuse river. There are many unknowns when it comes to plastic transport in rivers, espe...
As plastic pollution exists in aquatic ecosystems globally, monitoring its abundance and distribution has become crucial for understanding transport pathways, sources, sinks, and impacts. Riverbanks are accumulation zones for plastic, but the selection of monitoring methods is constrained by research goals, available resources, and site-specific co...
Wastewater discharge from wastewater treatment
plants continuously pumps microplastics into rivers, yet their
transport distances within these waterways remain unknown. Herein,
we developed a conceptual framework by synthesizing the microplastic
data from the Yangtze River Basin to evaluate its transport
distances, quantifying a signiffcant spatial...
There is a growing international interest in addressing marine litter, including plastics, and discussions are underway at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on the creation of an international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution. Under these circumstances, the need for monitoring is emphasized as a means of establish...
The availability and use of drones, fixed cameras, and smartphones allows the advancement in close range optical remote sensing due to its operability and viability for large-scale implementation. Specifically, RGB cameras are particularly advantageous for low-cost close-range sensing, offering higher spatial resolution at maximum two orders of mag...
Macroplastic fate and transport in the freshwater environment are of great concern due to the potentially harmful effects of macroplastic on plants, animals, and humans. Here, we present a modeling approach to simulate macroplastic fate and transport at the country scale based on an existing plastic release model. The fate model was parametrized th...
Poster introduces first conceptual framework for exploring riverine macroplastic fragmentation proces
Research on riverine microplastics has gradually increased, highlighting an area for further exploration: the lack of extensive, large-scale regional variations analysis due to methodological and spatiotemporal limitations. Herein, we constructed and applied a comprehensive framework for synthesizing and analyzing literature data on riverine microp...
River plastic transport has been assumed to be driven by river discharge, although observational data does often not support this. We propose a new perspective that describes plastic transport as function of plastic availability and transport capacity. Plastic transport is under most circumstances driven by plastic availability, which is largely di...
Field-based information on the rates of macroplastic fragmentation in rivers is currently mostly unavailable. However, obtaining such data in future research is crucial to understanding the production of secondary micro-and nanoplastics in rivers, the transfer of these harmful particles throughout the natural environment, and assessing the risks th...
During the July 2021 European floods approximately 8 million empty dairy packaging (buttertubs) were flushed from a dairy processing facility in Belgium into the Vesdre river. Some were transported further downstream, into the Ourthe river and eventually the Meuse river. There are many unknowns when it comes to plastic transport in rivers, especial...
Enhanced and effective hydrological monitoring plays a crucial role in understanding water-related processes in a rapidly changing world. Within this context, image-based river monitoring has shown to significantly enhance data collection, improve analysis and accuracy, and support effective and timely decision-making. The integration of remote and...
Poster presented at: European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) Conference in Vienna, Austria.
Non-Technical Summary
Plastic harms ecosystem health and human livelihood on land, in rivers, and in the sea. To prevent and reduce plastic pollution, we must know how plastics move through the environment. Extreme events, such as floods, bring large amounts of plastic into rivers around the world. This article summarizes how different flood types...
Wind and rain are considered main drivers for mobilization and transport of macroplastics on land, yet there is a lack of empirical data that quantifies this. We present lab experiment results on land-based macroplastic mobilization and transport. We placed four types of macroplastics on terrains with varying surface roughness and slope angles, and...
Plastic is an emerging pollutant, and the quantities in rivers and oceans are expected to increase. Rivers are assumed to transport land-based plastic into the ocean, and the fluvial and marine transport processes have been relatively well studied to date. However, the processes controlling the transport in tidal rivers and estuaries, the interface...
Plastic pollution is ubiquitous in aquatic environments worldwide. Rivers connect terrestrial and marine ecosystems, playing a key role in the transport of land-based plastic waste towards the sea. Emerging research suggests that in estuaries and tidal rivers, tidal dynamics play a significant role in plastic transport and retention dynamics. To da...
Catchment-scale plastic pollution assessments provide insights in its sources, sinks, and pathways. We present an approach to quantify macroplastic transport and density across the Odaw catchment, Ghana. We divided the catchment into the non-urban riverine, urban riverine, and urban tidal zones. Macroplastic transport and density on riverbanks and...
Rivers are one of the main conduits that deliver plastic from land into the sea, and also act as reservoirs for plastic retention. Yet, our understanding of the extent of river exposure to plastic pollution remains limited. In particular, there has been no comprehensive quantification of the contributions from different river compartments, such as...
Plastic pollution has become an enormous environmental problem, endangering ecosystems, livelihoods, safety and human health. Large quantities of plastics are trapped in or transported by rivers. Monitoring methods mostly focus on plastics floating at the surface or deposited on riverbanks, while a substantial part of plastics may be transported be...
Enhanced and effective hydrological monitoring plays a crucial role in understanding water-related processes in a rapidly changing world. This paper explores the challenges and opportunities associated with image-based hydrological monitoring techniques, and highlights the need for innovative approaches and technologies to overcome existing limitat...
Rivers play an important role in the macroplastics transport and retention dynamics
in the environment. Therefore, gaining an understanding of these processes is vital in
order to help determine the fate of macroplastic in the environment. During flood
events the transport of floating macroplastic is known to increase. We compared
plastic accumulat...
Plastic pollution is a global problem affecting both the riverine and marine environments. However, there is minimal data available to understand plastic transport dynamics, from river upstream to ocean downstream. Quantification of plastic litter has long been a challenge since traditional methods include either manual counting on coastal beaches...
Plastic pollution in the natural environment poses a growing threat to ecosystems and human health, prompting urgent needs for monitoring, prevention and clean-up measures, and new policies. To effectively prioritize resource allocation and mitigation strategies, it is key to identify and define plastic hotspots. UNEP’s draft global agreement on pl...
Multirotor drones have been shown to be operationally suitable to survey macro-litter in different environments.
The potential standardization of drone-based litter survey framework would allow an homogenization of data collection and assessment from different works.
Wind and rain are considered main drivers of mobilization and transport of macroplastics on land, yet there is a lack of empirical data that quantifies this. We present lab experiment results on land-based macroplastic mobilization and transport. We placed four types of macroplastics on terrains with varying surface roughness and slope angles, and...
The process of macroplastic (>0.5 cm) fragmentation results in the production of smaller plastic particles, which threaten biota and human health and are difficult to remove from the environment. The global coverage and long retention times of macroplastic waste in fluvial systems (ranging from years to centuries) create long-lasting and widespread...
Multirotor drones can be efficiently used to monitor macro-litter in coastal and riverine environments. Litter on beaches, dunes and riverbanks, along with floating litter on coastal and river waters, can be spotted and mapped from aerial drone images. Items detection and classification are prone to image resolution, which is expressed in terms of...
Plastics in rivers and lakes have direct local impact, and may also reach the world's oceans. Monitoring river plastic pollution is therefore key to quantify, understand and reduce plastics in all aquatic ecosystems. The lack of harmonization between ongoing monitoring efforts compromises the direct comparison and combination of available data. The...
The process of macroplastic (>0.5 cm) fragmentation results in the production of smaller plastic particles, which threaten biota and human health and are difficult to remove from the environment. The global coverage and long retention times of macroplastic waste in fluvial systems (ranging from years to centuries) create long-lasting and widespread...
Seas are polluted with macro- (>5 mm) and microplastics (<5 mm). However, few studies account for both types when modeling water quality, thus limiting our understanding of the origin (e.g., basins) and sources of plastics. In this work, we model riverine macro- and microplastic exports to seas to identify their main sources in over ten thousand ba...
Plastic entering the environment is a growing threat for ecosystems. We estimate the annual mass of known Dutch plastic waste generated and littered and where it ends up. We use two methods: (1) a material flow analysis of plastic waste separately collected from 13 economic sectors (including households, industry and imports) and estimate the amoun...
Plastic waste poses numerous risks to mountain river ecosystems due to their high biodiversity and specific physical characteristics. Here, we provide a baseline assessment for future evaluation of such risks in the Carpathians, one of the most biodiverse mountain ranges in East-Central Europe. We used high-resolution river network and mismanaged p...
Plastic pollution in the world’s rivers and ocean is increasingly threatening ecosystem health and human livelihood. In contrast to what is commonly assumed, most mismanaged plastic waste that enters the environment is not exported into the ocean. Rivers are therefore not only conduits but also reservoirs of plastic pollution. Plastic mobilization,...
Estimates of plastic input from rivers to ocean vary by up to five orders of magnitude. Harmonization of field data used to calibrate models and a better understanding of transport processes are key to reducing these uncertainties, contributing to meaningful assessments of the effectiveness of environmental regulations against plastic pollution.
Plastics in freshwaters are a major problem for socio-ecological systems, calling upon smart policies for its solution. At the same time, there is a lack of relevant monitoring data on plastics in freshwaters to design such policies, specifically in the so-called Global South. This study, therefore, aims to analyze the complex barriers to monitorin...
Accumulation of plastic litter in aquatic environments negatively impacts ecosystems and human livelihood. Urban areas are assumed to be the main source of plastic pollution in these environments because of high anthropogenic activity. Yet, the drivers of plastic emissions, abundance, and retention within these systems and subsequent transport to r...
Plastic pollution in rivers is of increased global concern. Rivers act both as pathways for land-based plastic waste into the ocean, and as plastic reservoirs for long-term retention. Reliable observations are key to designing, optimizing and evaluating strategies to prevent and reduce plastic pollution. Several measurement methods have been develo...
Rivers are pathways and storage zones for plastic pollution. Land-based plastic waste enters river systems through anthropogenic and hydrometeorological processes, after which they are transported and retained. Only a small fraction ( < 2%) is assumed to make it into the ocean. Understanding and quantifying river plastic transport are important to...
Plastic waste poses numerous risks to mountain river ecosystems due to their high biodiversity and specific physical characteristics. Here, we provide a baseline assessment for future evaluation of such risks in the Carpathians, one of the most biodiverse mountain ranges in East-Central Europe. We used high-resolution river network and mismanaged p...
Plastic waste poses numerous risks to mountain river ecosystems because of their high biodiversity and distinct physical characteristics. Here, we provide a baseline assessment for the future evaluation of such risks in the Carpathian Mountains, one of the most biodiverse mountain ranges in Eastern-Central Europe. We used high-resolution databases...
Plastic waste poses numerous risks to mountain river ecosystems because of their high biodiversity and distinct physical characteristics. Here, we provide a baseline assessment for the future evaluation of such risks in the Carpathian Mountains, one of the most biodiverse mountain ranges in Eastern-Central Europe. We used high-resolution databases...
Plastic pollution in oceans and rivers is of growing concern. Aquatic ecosystems play an important role in transport and storage of plastic waste from land-based storage to riverine and marine environments. This focus issue brings together new insights on the sources, transport dynamics, fate, and impact of plastic pollution through aquatic environ...
Rivers are pathways and storage zones for plastic pollution. Land-based plastic waste enters river systems through anthropogenic and hydrometeorological processes, after which they are transported and retained. Only a fraction is assumed to make it into the ocean. Understanding and quantifying river plastic transport is important to optimize preven...
Plastic is an emerging pollutant, and the quantities in rivers and oceans are expected to increase. Rivers are assumed to transport land-based plastic into the ocean, and the fluvial and marine transport processes have been relatively well studied to date. However, the processes controlling the transport in tidal rivers and estuaries, the interface...