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Human Health Effects
Marine & Wildlife
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Trophic Transfer of Microplastics From Copepods to Jellyfish in the Marine Environment
Frontiers in Environmental Science2020
155 citations
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Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Score: 45
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0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Elisa Costa,
Elisa Costa,
Francesca Garaventa
Francesca Garaventa
Chiara Gambardella,
Chiara Gambardella,
Chiara Gambardella,
Elisa Costa,
Elisa Costa,
Chiara Gambardella,
Chiara Gambardella,
Chiara Gambardella,
Verónica Piazza,
Verónica Piazza,
Elisa Costa,
Francesca Garaventa
Chiara Gambardella,
Chiara Gambardella,
Chiara Gambardella,
Chiara Gambardella,
Francesca Garaventa
Elisa Costa,
Elisa Costa,
Verónica Piazza,
Verónica Piazza,
Chiara Gambardella,
Chiara Gambardella,
Chiara Gambardella,
Chiara Gambardella,
Chiara Gambardella,
Chiara Gambardella,
Elisa Costa,
Francesca Garaventa
Francesca Garaventa
Verónica Piazza,
Silvia Lavorano,
Verónica Piazza,
Elisa Costa,
Verónica Piazza,
Chiara Gambardella,
Elisa Costa,
Francesca Garaventa
Francesca Garaventa
Francesca Garaventa
Marco Faimali,
Verónica Piazza,
Chiara Gambardella,
Elisa Costa,
Francesca Garaventa
Chiara Gambardella,
Silvia Lavorano,
Chiara Gambardella,
Chiara Gambardella,
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Silvia Lavorano,
Verónica Piazza,
Elisa Costa,
Francesca Garaventa
Francesca Garaventa
Verónica Piazza,
Silvia Lavorano,
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Francesca Garaventa
Chiara Gambardella,
Silvia Lavorano,
Elisa Costa,
Francesca Garaventa
Francesca Garaventa
Elisa Costa,
Francesca Garaventa
Silvia Lavorano,
Francesca Garaventa
Silvia Lavorano,
Verónica Piazza,
Verónica Piazza,
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Francesca Garaventa
Silvia Lavorano,
Francesca Garaventa
Silvia Lavorano,
Francesca Garaventa
Silvia Lavorano,
Francesca Garaventa
Francesca Garaventa
Verónica Piazza,
Chiara Gambardella,
Chiara Gambardella,
Marco Faimali,
Francesca Garaventa
Francesca Garaventa
Francesca Garaventa
Verónica Piazza,
Marco Faimali,
Francesca Garaventa
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Silvia Lavorano,
Silvia Lavorano,
Francesca Garaventa
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Francesca Garaventa
Francesca Garaventa
Francesca Garaventa
Francesca Garaventa
Silvia Lavorano,
Chiara Gambardella,
Chiara Gambardella,
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Marco Faimali,
Verónica Piazza,
Francesca Garaventa
Francesca Garaventa
Marco Faimali,
Francesca Garaventa
Verónica Piazza,
Francesca Garaventa
Francesca Garaventa
Francesca Garaventa
Marco Faimali,
Francesca Garaventa
Francesca Garaventa
Marco Faimali,
Francesca Garaventa
Marco Faimali,
Chiara Gambardella,
Francesca Garaventa
Summary
Trophic transfer of microplastics from copepods to jellyfish was demonstrated in a marine food web study, showing that plastic particles move upward through the food chain via predator-prey interactions. The finding extends evidence of microplastic trophic transfer to gelatinous zooplankton, which are important links between copepods and higher trophic levels.
Microplastics (MPs) can be ingested by marine organisms directly or indirectly through trophic transfer from contaminated prey. In the marine ecosystem, zooplankton are an important link between phytoplankton and higher trophic levels in the marine food web. Among them, copepods and gelatinous species have been recently reported to ingest MPs, but no potential MP transfer has been verified yet. In this study, a simplified twolevel trophic chain -formed by nauplii of the Tigriopus fulvus copepod as prey, and the ephyrae stage of Aurelia sp. as predator -was selected to investigate MP trophic transfer. The experimental setup consisted in feeding ephyrae with nauplii previously exposed to fluorescent 1-5 m polyethylene MPs and evaluating two ecotoxicological end-points: jellyfish immobility and pulsation frequency. After 24 h, the jellyfish ingested nauplii contaminated with MPs; however, neither immobility nor behavior was affected by MP transfer. These findings show that MPs can be transported at different trophic levels, but more research is needed to identify their potential effects on the marine food web.