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Beyond harm: synthesising meta-analytical and mechanistic evidence on animal responses to microplastics
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This review pulls together findings from 14 previous studies to look at how microplastics affect animals overall, things like their growth, behavior, and survival. The takeaway is that microplastics generally cause measurable harm across many species, which raises concern since these tiny plastic particles are already found in our food, water, and even our bodies. While this study focuses on animals rather than humans directly, it adds to growing evidence that microplastic pollution is a biological stressor worth taking seriously.
This dataset contains the data associated with the Review article “Beyond harm: synthesising meta-analytical and mechanistic evidence on animal responses to microplastics”. Data were compiled from 14 published meta-analyses examining biological responses to microplastic exposure across animal taxa. The dataset includes extracted effect sizes and associated information used to synthesise responses across biological trait categories and taxonomic groups. Effect-size metrics include Hedges’ g, log response ratios (lnRR), and odds ratios (OR), as reported in the source meta-analyses.
More Papers Like This
Beyond harm: synthesising meta-analytical and mechanistic evidence on animal responses to microplastics
AI summary Read the abstract
This review pulls together results from 14 existing studies to get a bigger-picture view of how microplastics affect animals, looking at things like growth, reproduction, and behavior across many species. The takeaway: microplastics generally cause measurable harm to animals, though the severity varies depending on the species and the type of biological function being studied. Since these animals often share biology with humans and sit in our food chain (think fish and shellfish), this kind of harm is an early warning sign worth paying attention to, even though it doesn't directly prove the same effects happen in people.
Animal exposure to microplastics and health effects: A review
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Researchers reviewed how microplastic exposure affects animals across terrestrial and aquatic environments, finding that species suffer physical harm, chemical contamination from pollutants that stick to plastic surfaces, inflammation, and behavioral changes. Because microplastics accumulate up the food chain, the review warns that animals entering the human food supply may carry these particles into our bodies.
Impacts of Microplastic Exposure on Animal Physiology and Health: A Global Perspective
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This global review synthesized evidence on microplastic health effects across diverse animal species and environments, covering physical damage, inflammatory responses, chemical toxicity, and behavioral changes. The authors emphasized long-term chronic toxicity as a key concern and highlighted microplastics' role as vectors for harmful substances within food chains.
Biological Effects of Microplastics: A Review.
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Researchers reviewed how microplastics harm a wide range of living things, finding they cause physical damage, inflammation, oxidative stress, and reproductive problems in aquatic animals, while also carrying toxic chemicals and dangerous bacteria into organisms. Major gaps remain in understanding the effects of long-term low-dose exposure and the risks posed by even tinier nanoplastics.
A comprehensive review of the impact of microplastics on aquatic organisms: From ingestion to ecological consequences
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This comprehensive review assessed the impacts of microplastics on diverse aquatic organisms—including fish, marine mammals, mollusks, crustaceans, and microorganisms—from ingestion through ecological-level consequences. The authors found that microplastics cause physical injury, oxidative stress, endocrine disruption, and behavioral changes across taxa, with downstream effects on food web structure and ecosystem function.
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