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Microplastics and nanoplastics: would they affect global biodiversity change?
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This review examined how the ubiquitous distribution of micro- and nanoplastics and their demonstrated effects on individual organisms could translate to global biodiversity changes, identifying threats to ecosystems through direct toxicity, food web disruption, and habitat alteration. The authors call for new research approaches that link individual-level microplastic effects to population and ecosystem-level biodiversity impacts.
Micro(nano)plastics, new emerging contaminants, are ubiquitously found in the environment due to continuous release and accumulation. Widespread micro(nano)plastics can increase their exposure to organisms, pose threats to the ecological environment and human health, and potentially result in global biodiversity changes. Research has been started on micro(nano)plastics regarding their environmental distribution, contamination sources, and methods and technologies for analysis, as well as the environmental impacts and ecological effects on organisms ingesting micro(nano)plastics. However, limited information focused on the consequences of global biodiversity has been reported and the research approaches on biodiversity change caused by micro(nano)plastics are still seldom developed. Recently, researchers in environmental and ecological groups have begun to be conscious of the relationship between micro(nano)plastics and biodiversity. Even so, more efforts are needed to assess the impacts of micro(nano)plastics on this subject, as well as the interactions between organisms and micro(nano)plastics.
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This review summarizes the growing threat of plastic pollution in aquatic ecosystems, with a focus on how microplastics and nanoplastics enter food webs starting at the lowest levels. The authors highlight the persistence of these particles and call for coordinated action to reduce plastic inputs to water bodies.
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Researchers reviewed the emerging toxicological literature on nanoplastics in marine ecosystems, distinguishing primary nanoplastics (manufactured at nanoscale) from secondary nanoplastics (fragmented from larger debris), and summarizing how nanoscale size changes particle reactivity and bioavailability in ways that differ substantially from their macro- and microscale counterparts.
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