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Ecological Impacts of Microplastics on Rotifers and Fish
Summary
This review pulls together existing research showing that microplastics harm tiny aquatic organisms called rotifers and the fish that eat them, causing everything from reproductive problems to organ damage. Because these plastics build up as they move through the food chain, they eventually end up in the fish we eat—meaning this isn't just an ecosystem problem, it's a potential seafood safety issue for humans too. The authors say more research is urgently needed to understand the risks and find ways to reduce them.
Microplastics (MPs) are widely emerging pollutants that can affect different levels of the food chain from plankton to fish and even to human health. We summarized the impact of MPs on various levels of the food chain using rotifers and fish as the focus. Rotifers are essential food web components in aquatic systems and are highly sensitive to MPs. Rotifers suffered significant internal damage and reproductive disorders when exposed to MPs. Nutritional stress made rotifers more sensitive to MPs, and the population of rotifers declined after several generations of exposure. In addition, rotifers can transfer MPs and pollutants, such as heavy metals, to the next level of the food chain. Fish are important predators and environmental indicators. MPs can cause various problems at different levels in fish, including growth inhibition, tissue damage, immunosuppression, nerve damage, metabolic disorders, hormone interference, and reproduction disorders. NPs can pass through biological barriers and cause molecular damage, while larger MPs cause only physical damage. MPs accumulated in the body of fish and transferred to humans through fish consumption. MPs interacted with other environmental pollutants, and the combination enhanced their effects. MPs contaminated the food chain and ecosystem by reducing the number and fitness of the levels of rotifers and affecting the amount of energy transferred to fish larvae and the stability of fish populations. The movement of MPs in the food chain is extensive and threatens the health of the ecosystem and seafood safety. Therefore, more research and mitigation strategies are urgently needed to solve this problem.