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Accumulation of plastic debris and associated contaminants in aquatic food webs
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A food web model (MICROWEB) was developed to simulate how microplastics and hydrophobic organic chemicals transfer through Arctic marine food webs from zooplankton to polar bears. The model showed that increased microplastic ingestion can paradoxically reduce PCB biomagnification by diluting contaminant concentrations, while PAH transfer is less affected.
We present a generic theoretical model (MICROWEB) that simulates the transfer of microplastics and hydrophobic organic chemicals (HOC) in food webs. We implemented the model for an Arctic case comprised of nine species including Atlantic cod and polar bear as top predator. We used the model to examine the effect of plastic ingestion on trophic transfer of microplastics and persistent HOCs (PCBs) and metabolizable HOCs (PAHs), spanning a wide range of hydrophobicities. In a scenario where HOCs in plastic and water are in equilibrium, PCBs biomagnify less when more microplastic is ingested, because PCBs biomagnify less well from ingested plastic than from regular food. In contrast, PAHs biomagnify more when more microplastic is ingested, because plastic reduces the fraction of PAHs available for metabolization. We also explore nonequilibrium scenarios representative of additives that are leaching out, as well as sorbing HOCs, quantitatively showing how the above trends are strengthened and weakened, respect...
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Accumulation of Plastic Debris and Associated Contaminants in Aquatic Food Webs
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Researchers built a food web model simulating microplastic and chemical contaminant transfer through an Arctic marine food chain from zooplankton to polar bears. The model found that while microplastics themselves do not biomagnify substantially through trophic levels, they can alter the bioaccumulation patterns of hydrophobic organic chemicals depending on the chemical properties and organism physiology.
Role of Microplastics in the Biomagnification of PBTs in Marine Organisms
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This paper reviews how microplastics may facilitate the biomagnification of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals in marine food webs, given that plastic particles can adsorb and concentrate pollutants. The work highlights microplastics as a potential new vector for introducing toxic chemicals into marine organisms and up through the food chain.
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This review examines how microplastics and the chemicals they carry transfer through marine food webs from lower to higher trophic levels, and what this means for human health given that people consume marine fish and seafood. It identifies microplastics as a vector for bioaccumulation of persistent organic pollutants in ways that ultimately reach humans.
Trophic transfer of microplastics and mixed contaminants in the marine food web and implications for human health
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This review examines how microplastics act as vectors for chemical contaminants through marine food webs, discussing the factors influencing ingestion, the biological impacts of sorbed chemicals, and evidence for trophic transfer across multiple trophic levels. Researchers highlight that existing lab studies use unrealistically high concentrations and that no study has yet tracked microplastic-contaminant transfer from seafood to humans.
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Researchers developed a model to evaluate whether microplastic acts as a meaningful carrier of persistent organic pollutants to aquatic organisms. The analysis suggests that in both laboratory and open marine systems, microplastic ingestion is more likely to slightly decrease bioaccumulation of pollutants rather than increase it, and the differences are too small to be relevant for risk assessment.
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