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Comparative Ecotoxicological Impacts of Traditional and Emerging Microplastics on Marine Zooplankton: Implications for Aquaculture and Coastal Ecosystem Health
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This review pulls together research on how both familiar plastics and newer types (like tire dust and "biodegradable" plastics) harm tiny marine creatures called zooplankton, the base of the ocean food chain. These particles can carry toxic chemicals and pollutants that get passed up the food chain into farmed seafood, raising concerns about what ends up on our plates and the long-term health of coastal waters we depend on for food. The findings matter because they suggest that newer, less-studied plastics may pose risks just as serious as the traditional ones we've been tracking for years.
Marine ecosystem health is threatened by an increasing worldwide problem when microplastic pollution occurs. The emerging microplastics (MPs), such as biodegradable bioplastics, tire wear particles (TWPs), and synthetic microfibers, introduce distinct risk profiles compared to well-studied legacy petroleum-based polymers (polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene). Marine zooplankton serve as vital primary consumers and key energy links to higher trophic levels, including species of economic importance for aquaculture. This review summarises the current scientific knowledge on the ingestion mechanisms, tissue deposition, and multi-level ecotoxicological effects of traditional and emerging microplastics on marine zooplankton communities. Physiological and physical disruption due to microplastic exposure, such as oxidative stress cascade, neurotoxicity, due to enzyme inhibition, endocrine disruption, and reproductive failure, are discussed. In addition, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals (the “Trojan Horse” effect) are analysed alongside the leaching kinetics of toxic endogenous additives (e.g., phthalates, bisphenols, 6PPD-quinone). Finally, we address the trophic transfer of these particles into coastal aquaculture systems, which negatively affects the seafood safety, sustainability and biological carbon pump, while presenting structural mitigation and legislative solutions.
More Papers Like This
Ecotoxicological effects of traditional and emerging microplastics on marine zooplankton: A review
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Researchers reviewed how microplastics harm marine zooplankton (tiny animals that form a critical link in ocean food chains) at the molecular level, covering effects like metabolic disruption, oxidative stress, immune damage, and neurotoxicity — and extended the review to include emerging plastics like tire-wear particles and antifouling paint particles that are often overlooked. The review calls for moving beyond treating all microplastics as identical, since their varying physical and chemical properties produce very different toxic effects.
The Impacts of Microplastics on Zooplankton
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This review examines the growing concern about microplastic impacts on marine and freshwater zooplankton, noting that these tiny organisms can ingest microplastics and are at the base of most aquatic food webs. Plastic ingestion can cause gut blockages, immune responses, energy loss, and reduced reproduction, with potential cascading effects on ecosystems and the species—including fish and humans—that feed on zooplankton.
Toxicity effects and mechanism of micro/nanoplastics and loaded conventional pollutants on zooplankton: An overview
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This review summarizes how microplastics and nanoplastics harm zooplankton, the tiny animals at the base of aquatic food chains, through physical blockage, oxidative stress, gene disruption, and reproductive damage. The effects are worse when microplastics carry other pollutants like heavy metals or pesticides on their surfaces. Since zooplankton are eaten by fish that humans consume, damage to these organisms can transfer microplastic contamination up the food chain to people.
Microplastic and Nanoplastic Pollution in Zooplankton: A Systematic Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis of Ingestion, Ecotoxicological Effects, and Research Gaps
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Tiny plastic particles are piling up in the oceans, and this review of 250 studies shows that zooplankton — the microscopic creatures that form the base of the ocean food chain — are eating them, since the plastic bits are often the same size as the food they normally consume. Because zooplankton get eaten by fish, and fish end up on our plates, this matters for understanding how plastic pollution might move up the food chain to humans, though the researchers note most studies so far are lab-based with only a couple of "model" species, so real-world impacts on wild ecosystems and human health are still poorly understood. The big takeaway: scientists need more real
Effects of microplastics, nanomaterials and other environmental contaminants on marine organism
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This paper reviews existing research on how tiny plastic particles, nanomaterials, and other pollutants affect ocean life, from fish to shellfish. Since these creatures are part of the food chain that ends up on our plates, understanding how pollution harms them can help us predict potential risks to the seafood we eat. While the paper focuses on marine animals rather than humans directly, it highlights growing concerns about how widespread plastic pollution may be working its way up to our dinner tables.
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