Handbook of Microplastics in the Environment

This reference work presents an authoritative review of microplastics as vectors of environmental contaminants and provides a comprehensive coverage of their ecotoxicological and toxicological effects. Divided into four sections, this book outlines the current analytical techniques and applications for sampling, processing analysis, and data reporting of microplastics pollution in the environment, explores microplastics degradation and interaction with chemical pollutants, discusses the fate and behaviour of microplastics in the environment, and provides valuable insights about prevention, regulation and remediation of microplastics pollution.

Written by interdisciplinary expert academics and practitioners, this reference work will appeal to a wide readership of students, researchers and professionals interested in this field, including marine scientists, environmental scientists, analytical chemists, organic chemists, biochemists, biologists, polymer scientists, and toxicologists.

Teresa Rocha-Santos has graduated in analytical chemistry (1996) and obtained a PhD in chemistry (2000) and an aggregation in chemistry (2018), both from the University of Aveiro, Portugal. Presently, she is a principal researcher at the Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Aveiro (since 2014) and vice coordinator of CESAM (from 2021). Her research concentrates on the development of new analytical methodologies fit for purpose and on the study of emerging contaminants (such as microplastics) and their fate and behavior in the environment and during wastewater treatment. She has published 170 scientific papers (October 2021) and has an h-index of 43 (October 2021). She is the editor of seven books. She is a member of the editorial boards of Current Opinion in Environmental Science and Health, Elsevier (since 2017); Data in Brief, Elsevier (since 2018); Science of the Total Environment, Elsevier (since 2018); Sensors, MDPI (since 2018); and Molecules, MDPI (since 2018). She is associate editor of the Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration, Springer (since 2016), and the Journal of Hazardous Materials (since 2019) and co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances (since 2021).

Monica Costa has completed BSc in Oceanography (UERJ, 1988), MPhil in Analytical Chemistry/Marine Chemistry (PUC-Rio, 1991), and PhD in Environmental Sciences (ENV-UEA Norwich UK, 1997). She is Full Professor in Chemical Oceanography and Marine Pollution at Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE). Her teaching and research interests are chemical oceanography and marine pollution. She is also involved in research and in guiding BSc, MPhil, and PhD students in Integrated Coastal Zone Management and water quality; plastic marine debris; chemical contamination of water, sediments and biota at coastal and marine systems; aquatic toxicology; oil/tar pollution on beaches; and environmental education in coastal and marine issues, including collaborations with traditional populations.

Catherine Mouneyrac Professor of Ecotoxicology, vice rector for research and valorization (Université Catholique de l’Ouest Angers, France), holds a PhD (University of Lyon I, France) in animal physiology and a DSc in aquatic ecotoxicology (University of Nantes, France). Her general field of research concerns the response of organisms to natural and chemical stress, namely nanomaterials. At the interface of fundamental and applied research, she aims to fulfill the gap between ecological and (eco)toxicological approaches, the final objective being to help environmental diagnosis. She collaborates with researchers all around the world and has participated in the conception and realization of numerous national and international scientific projects (NanoSalt, NanoReTox, and NANoREG, among others). She is part of the expert committee on the assessment of the risks related to physical agents, new technologies, and development areas at the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES). She is a scientific officer at French National Research Agency (ANR) and has been selected as a decision maker to follow the national study course of Institut des Hautes Etudes pour la Science et la Technologie (http://www.ihest.fr).