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Zooplankton exposure to microplastics at global scale: Influence of vertical distribution and seasonality
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Researchers used a global ocean model to assess zooplankton exposure to microplastics, finding that exposure varies significantly with depth, season, and zooplankton vertical migration patterns, with highest concentrations in subtropical gyres and near coastal pollution sources.
Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous contaminants in the ocean. Zooplankton is thus widely exposed to MP ingestion. Here, we use a global coupled physical–biogeochemical model enriched with a 3D representation of MPs to assess the global zooplankton exposure to MPs. As expected, our results indicate that water MP concentration is the highest in the surface layers of subtropical gyres and coastal areas close to major MP sources, which is mostly due to floating MPs, while neutral MPs contaminate the mesopelagic zone. Additionally, we showed that floating MPs may be also transported to the mesopelagic waters during the seasonal deepening of the mixed layer depth. We then estimate zooplankton exposure to MPs based on water MP concentrations, plankton biomass, and zooplankton grazing rate. Two main drivers lead to high zooplankton exposure to MPs: 1) high water MP contamination and 2) intense grazing activity. Seasonally, re-stratification of surface waters may lead to MP vertical concentration coinciding with planktonic blooms, thus increasing contamination risk.
More Papers Like This
Zooplankton exposure to microplastics at the global scale: Influence of vertical distribution and seasonality
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers compiled a global dataset of variables used to model zooplankton exposure to microplastics, incorporating vertical distribution and seasonality factors to better characterize how different zooplankton depth preferences and seasonal migration patterns influence the degree of microplastic contact across ocean regions.
Constraining zooplankton exposure to microplastic at the global scale: results from a new coupled physical-biogeochemical model (NEMO/PISCES-PLASTIC)
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Researchers used a global coupled physical-biogeochemical ocean model (NEMO/PISCES-PLASTIC) to estimate zooplankton exposure to microplastics across all oceanic regions and depth layers, simulating realistic nutrient and plankton cycling alongside a 3D microplastic transport module. The model enabled global-scale quantification of microplastic concentrations in zooplankton habitat zones, addressing the difficulty of direct in situ measurement and the largely unknown population-level impacts of microplastic ingestion on marine food webs.
Model exploration of microplastic effects on zooplankton grazing reveal potential impacts on the global carbon cycle
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Researchers used a global ocean model to explore how microplastics could affect zooplankton grazing and, in turn, the ocean's carbon cycle. The study suggests that while microplastic impacts on zooplankton remain concentrated in about 10% of the ocean surface, heavily contaminated areas like subtropical gyres could see meaningful shifts in biological carbon export to the deep ocean over the coming decades.
Potential impacts of microplastic on zooplankton at the global scale
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Researchers used mathematical modeling to estimate the global-scale impacts of microplastic pollution on ocean zooplankton, which form the foundation of marine food webs. Their models suggest that microplastics cause zooplankton to reduce their feeding rates and shift their prey preferences, which could have cascading effects on carbon export from surface waters to the deep ocean. The study highlights that even modest disruptions to zooplankton behavior from microplastics could have significant consequences for ocean biogeochemistry.
The faecal microplastic pump: zooplankton efficiently transport microplastics to the ocean depths
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Tiny ocean creatures called zooplankton are eating floating plastic bits and pooping them out in pellets that sink to the deep sea, acting like a natural elevator that carries roughly a third of the ocean's "missing" microplastics down to depths below 1,000 meters. This matters because it helps explain where all the plastic we've dumped into the ocean actually ends up, and it means deep-sea ecosystems (and the food chains tied to them, including seafood we eat) are absorbing more plastic pollution than previously realized.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.