Potential Effects of Environmental Plastic Contamination on Wharf Roach (Ligia Exotica): Insights Using Multiple Omics Approach to Resident Detritus Consumer

The effects of environmental Microplastic on wharf roach (Ligia exotica): A Multi-Omics approach

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Wild wharf roaches collected from a microplastic-contaminated South Korean shoreline had 50 times more plastic particles in their guts than roaches from a cleaner site, and the contaminated animals also carried elevated levels of brominated flame retardants leached from the polystyrene foam they had ingested. Gene expression analysis revealed that the contaminated roaches showed altered immune, metabolic, and stress-response pathways. Because wharf roaches are a key detritus-consuming species in coastal ecosystems, this study demonstrates that microplastic pollution can have cascading biological effects from the base of the food web.

Microplastics: Environmental Risks in Insect Ecosystem Leading to Adversity on Human Health

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Researchers examine how microplastic pollution affects insect ecosystems, tracing how plastic debris degrades into microscopic particles that are ingested by insects, disrupting their physiology and behavior, with downstream consequences for pollination, food webs, and ultimately human health given insects' foundational role in terrestrial ecosystems.

Microplastic Contamination in Aquatic Organisms: An Ecotoxicological Perspective

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"This ecotoxicological review examined how microplastics accumulate in aquatic organisms across multiple trophic levels, documenting impacts on physiology, reproduction, and behavior, as well as the transport of associated chemical contaminants through food webs. Because humans sit at the top of aquatic food chains, the bioaccumulation dynamics described here translate directly into dietary microplastic exposure, making ecotoxicological endpoints in fish and shellfish key indicators of human health risk."

Toxic Effects of Fragmented Polyethylene Terephthalate Particles on the Marine Rotifer Brachionus Koreanus: Based on Ingestion and Egestion Assay, in Vivo Toxicity Test, and Multi-Omics Analysis

Effects of Expanded Polystyrene Particles on the Diversity and Composition of the Gut Microbiome of the Coastal Isopod Ligia cinerascens

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A controlled laboratory study exposed the coastal isopod Ligia cinerascens to expanded polystyrene for up to 14 days, finding no significant shifts in overall gut microbial diversity but detecting enrichment of potentially pathogenic taxa including Clostridium and Vibrio species. These subtle microbial shifts suggest that even brief EPS exposure may create hidden health risks in coastal invertebrates, with potential implications for marine food web dynamics.