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A review of microplastics in the aquatic environmental: distribution, transport, ecotoxicology, and toxicological mechanisms
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This review examines how microplastics are distributed, transported, and accumulate throughout aquatic environments, and the toxicological effects they have on aquatic organisms. The study suggests that microplastics can affect human health through the food chain, but notes that understanding of combined toxicity mechanisms remains very limited. The authors identify significant knowledge gaps and call for more systematic environmental risk assessments across multiple species.
The interactions between microplastics (MPs) and aquatic organisms are becoming increasingly frequent due to the extensive distribution of MPs in aquatic environments. MPs from the aquatic environment tend to accumulate and move through living organisms. Therefore, MPs can affect human health though the food chain and human consumption. In this brief review, the environmental distribution, sources, and transport of MPs are reviewed, and the potential consequences of the presence of MPs in the aquatic environment to human food are discussed. This review also summarized the toxicity effects and toxicity mechanisms of MPs based on various environmentally relevant test species and discussed the combined toxicity effects of MPs and various pollutants in aquatic ecosystems. The knowledge of the adverse effects on combined toxicity and the mechanism of MPs toxicity are very limited. Thus, a systematic assessment of the aquatic environmental risk in various species from MPs is challenging. In the end, we identify the knowledge gaps that need to be filled and provide suggestions for future research.
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Microplastics in Aquatic Ecosystems: A Critical Review of Sources, Transport Mechanisms and Ecotoxicological Risks
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Environmental distribution, transport and ecotoxicity of microplastics: A review
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This review covers the environmental distribution and transport of microplastics across marine, freshwater, soil, and atmospheric compartments, and analyzes their toxicity to organisms at different trophic levels including potential effects on human health.
Microplastics in Aquatic Ecosystems: A Review of Ecotoxicological Effects, Exposure Pathways and Trophic Transfer Risks
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This review synthesises evidence on the ecotoxicological effects of microplastics in marine, freshwater, and estuarine environments, covering ingestion, bioaccumulation, trophic transfer, and physiological harms across aquatic fauna. It identifies chemical co-contamination and particle size as key modulators of toxicity.
Microplastics in aquatic environments: detection, abundance, characteristics, and toxicological studies
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This review summarizes current knowledge about microplastics in water environments, covering how they are detected, how abundant they are, and what toxic effects they have on living organisms. Microplastics are found throughout aquatic systems and can accumulate in organisms while also spreading other pollutants through the environment. The authors emphasize that more attention should be paid to microplastics in freshwater and organisms closely linked to human food sources, as well as toxicity studies in mammals.
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