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Freshwater systems in the Anthropocene: why we need to evaluate microplastics in the context of multiple stressors
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Real-world organisms are exposed to microplastics alongside many other environmental stressors — temperature change, chemical pollutants, habitat degradation — yet most lab studies test microplastics in isolation. This review argues that ecotoxicology needs to adopt a multi-stressor approach to truly understand how microplastics affect freshwater life at every level, from individual cells to whole ecosystems. Without this broader context, risk assessments will consistently underestimate the actual harm microplastics cause in nature.
Microplastics are a diverse contaminant with complex physical and chemical properties. While microplastics have varying effects, most studies to date have focused on evaluating microplastics as a single stressor under stable environmental conditions. In reality, organisms are exposed to more than microplastics, and thus, it will be increasingly important to evaluate the effects of microplastics in the context of multiple anthropogenic stressors. Here, we highlight the need to assess the physical and chemical effects of microplastics, as well as their interactions with other anthropogenic stressors, at multiple levels of biological organization (i.e., sub-organismal, individual, population, community, ecosystem). We also outline research priorities and recommendations that will facilitate ecotoxicological assessments to better encompass the multidimensionality of microplastics as environmental conditions continue to change. By taking a multi-stressor ecotoxicological approach, we can work toward a better understanding of microplastic and other stressor effects at multiple levels of biological organization to help inform robust, evidenced-based policy and management decisions.
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Accounting for species traits and exposure complexity to understand organism responses to microplastics and multistressors
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This review paper argues that scientists have been studying microplastics too simply, testing one plastic type at a time without considering how factors like plastic age, chemical coatings, and other environmental stressors (like pollution or heat) combine to affect living things differently. The authors say we need more realistic experiments that reflect how microplastics actually behave in nature, because right now our risk assessments may be underestimating or misjudging the real dangers these particles pose to organisms, and ultimately to the food chains humans depend on.
Towards more ecologically relevant investigations of the impacts of microplastic pollution in freshwater ecosystems
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This review argues that microplastic research in freshwater ecosystems lacks ecological realism, calling for studies that account for realistic exposure concentrations, particle mixtures, and multi-species interactions rather than single-species laboratory tests.
Micro- and nanoplastics effects in a multiple stressed marine environment
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Researchers examined how micro- and nanoplastics interact with other environmental stressors in marine settings, finding that realistic multi-stressor scenarios can amplify or modify plastic toxicity in ways single-exposure studies miss.
Referee report. For: Freshwater systems in the Anthropocene: why we need to evaluate microplastics in the context of multiple stressors [version 1; peer review: 1 approved with reservations]
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers argued that studying microplastics in isolation from other environmental stressors gives an incomplete picture of their harm, and called for multi-stressor research approaches that reflect the complex, combined pressures that real-world organisms actually face.
Referee report. For: Freshwater systems in the Anthropocene: why we need to evaluate microplastics in the context of multiple stressors [version 1; peer review: 1 approved, 1 approved with reservations]
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers argued that studying microplastics in isolation from other environmental stressors gives an incomplete picture of their harm, and called for multi-stressor research approaches that reflect the complex, combined pressures that real-world organisms actually face.
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