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Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Aquatic Environments: Challenges and Threats to Aquatic Organisms
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Micro- and nanoplastics have been detected across a wide range of aquatic organisms from microalgae to fish, disrupting metabolic, physiological, and behavioral processes at both cellular and ecosystem levels. Their persistence and increasing abundance in oceans make them a growing food safety threat as plastic contamination moves up the aquatic food chain toward human consumption.
Micro- and nanoplastics are emerging contaminants of international concern that cannot be ignored as future environmental threats. New studies are being carried out to determine the critical challenges posed by the presence of these plastics in the ecosystem. In this review, the sources of micro- and nanoplastic contamination are described, highlighting their abundance and their environmental fate after being released. Moreover, their role in affecting aquatic organisms and the mechanisms involved are clarified. Some insights into their impacts on human health and the challenges faced by researchers in measuring both types of plastics extracted from biota are also presented. Assessing the toxicological impact of these plastics on sediment and aquatic organisms is an emerging issue, as they have been found in microalgae, brine shrimp larvae, bivalves, fish and shellfish. The amount of plastic waste in the seas is continuing to increase and part of that waste is degraded to produce microplastics and nanoplastics. Therefore, exposure to these materials will inevitably increase, resulting in an emerging food safety issue. Micro- and nanoplastics contamination might cause damage to metabolic, morphological, physiological, food uptake, and behavioral processes, and as a consequence, their impacts may be significant at both the cellular and ecosystem levels. Research output concerning the source, fate, and toxicological impact of micro- and nanoplastics on marine organisms has increased dramatically, but there are still gaps in knowledge about the molecular alterations that they cause.
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Researchers reviewed the environmental impacts of microplastics and nanoplastics in aquatic ecosystems, documenting how their ubiquitous presence disrupts food webs, causes physical and chemical harm to aquatic organisms, and raises concerns about bioaccumulation up the food chain to humans.
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This book chapter reviews how advances in polymer science over the past century and a half have made plastics ubiquitous, and how that has led to escalating micro- and nanoplastic contamination of aquatic environments worldwide. Understanding the origins and environmental behavior of these particles is foundational to assessing the risks they pose to aquatic life and human health.
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Researchers reviewed the accumulation of microplastics across aquatic ecosystems worldwide, finding that plastic particles have reached even remote water bodies and pose threats to aquatic organisms through ingestion, physical harm, and the transport of toxic chemical pollutants.
Microplastics Are Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Aquatic Environments: An Overview
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Researchers reviewed the sources, distribution, and ecological risks of microplastics as contaminants of emerging concern in aquatic environments, documenting pathways from industrial discharge and wastewater treatment plants and highlighting their capacity to adsorb other pollutants and harm aquatic life.
Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Aquatic Environments [Working Title]
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Researchers compiled a multidisciplinary reference volume synthesizing ecotoxicological, chemical, and ethical dimensions of microplastic and nanoplastic contamination in aquatic ecosystems, integrating evidence on biological harm, contaminant interactions, and policy pathways to support researchers, students, and practitioners working on mitigation strategies.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.