Microplastics (MPs) and their associated chemical additives are pervasive contaminants whose ecological impacts extend beyond organismal toxicity to fundamentally alter ecosystem processes. We synthesize current understanding of how MPs affect three interconnected dimensions of ecosystem integrity: ecosystem structure, ecosystem function, and ecosystem signaling. Across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems, MPs alter...

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been identified as a source of microplastics, an emerging contaminant class of increasing concern, to the environment. Three WWTPs in the Canterbury region, New Zealand, were sampled bi‐monthly from winter (June) to summer (December), to assess the variability of the abundance, morphology and polymer type of microplastics present over time. Microplastics were isolated from effluent via...

This study assessed the potential of the mud snail Amphibola crenata as a bioindicator of estuarine health. Multiple sites with varying contaminant inputs were identified within a small, shallow estuary (Avon‐Heathcote/Ihutai in the South Island of New Zealand). Population structures of field‐collected A. crenata were related to measurements of sediment trace metal profiles. Whole‐body soft tissue metal concentrations were sig...

Estuaries support a wide range of human activities and values, but are one of the most anthropogenically impacted ecosystems in the world. Ki uta ki tai is a holistic view of waterways that is embodied within Ngāi Tahu environmental management, which acknowledges the connectivity between environmental systems and people with the environment. While this philosophy is referred to within current policies, management does not effe...

A total of 163 wells were sampled in New Zealand as part of the 2006 national survey of pesticides in groundwater. The aims of the survey were to update the national overview of pesticides in New Zealand's groundwater systems, to investigate temporal variation in pesticide concentrations between surveys, and to identify environmental factors associated with pesticide contamination of groundwater. Thirty‐one wells (19%) tested...