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Decision: Environmental toxicology of marine microplastic pollution — R1/PR9
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This review synthesizes a decade of research on how microplastics accumulate and cause harm across marine food webs, from phytoplankton and zooplankton to bivalves and fish. Studies consistently document biological impacts at the molecular, metabolic, and physiological levels, but the authors caution that most laboratory exposure concentrations are far higher than those found in real environments. The review calls for more environmentally realistic toxicology studies and quantitative models to better predict actual risks to marine ecosystems.
Over the past decade, there have been increasing recognition and concern of the toxicological impacts of microplastics (MPs) in the environment, which have been widely found in various marine environments from estuary to deep oceans. Numerous toxicological studies have been conducted on the impacts of MPs on various marine organisms, especially phytoplankton, zooplankton, bivalves, and fish of different trophic levels. These studies mainly focused on the measurements of MPs bioaccumulation and their resulting biological impacts at molecular, metabolic, biochemical, physiological, and organismic levels. This review examines the various studies conducted over the recent years on the toxicology of MPs in different marine organisms, particularly on the bioaccumulation and toxicity of MPs. The impacts of MPs on marine organisms are diverse, and the complexity of organism physiology as well as MPs physical and chemical properties need to be considered. Future studies should consider the environmental relevance of toxicological research and the development of quantitative tools to model the transport, bioaccumulation, and toxicity of MPs. These are important for the real environmental risk assessments of MPs in the marine environments.
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Decision: Environmental toxicology of marine microplastic pollution — R0/PR5
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This is a peer review decision document for a comprehensive review of marine microplastic toxicology, covering bioaccumulation and toxic effects in phytoplankton, zooplankton, bivalves, and fish across trophic levels. The underlying review synthesises evidence that microplastic impacts span molecular, biochemical, and organismal levels and calls for more environmentally relevant experimental designs. It represents an important quality-control step in publishing a key synthesis of marine microplastic risk science.
Recommendation: Environmental toxicology of marine microplastic pollution — R1/PR8
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This review synthesises a decade of research on how microplastics harm marine organisms across multiple trophic levels, from phytoplankton and zooplankton to bivalves and fish. It highlights that microplastics cause damage at molecular, biochemical, and physiological levels, and that they also act as vectors for chemical pollutants, amplifying environmental risks throughout marine food webs.
Author comment: Environmental toxicology of marine microplastic pollution — R0/PR1
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This review examines the toxicological impacts of microplastics on marine organisms across trophic levels, finding that effects range from molecular to organismic levels in phytoplankton, zooplankton, bivalves, and fish, and calling for more environmentally relevant research and quantitative models for real-world risk assessment.
Review: Environmental toxicology of marine microplastic pollution — R0/PR2
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This review examines the toxicological impacts of microplastics on marine organisms across trophic levels — from phytoplankton to fish — finding diverse biological effects at molecular, metabolic, and physiological levels, while calling for more environmentally relevant research methods.
Author comment: Environmental toxicology of marine microplastic pollution — R1/PR6
AI summary Read the abstract
This review synthesises a decade of toxicological research on marine microplastics, covering their effects on organisms across the food chain — from phytoplankton and zooplankton through bivalves and fish — at molecular, biochemical, and physiological levels. It provides a comprehensive picture of how microplastic bioaccumulation disrupts marine life and highlights key knowledge gaps that still need to be addressed to fully understand ecosystem and food safety risks.
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