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Interactions of microplastic debris throughout the marine ecosystem
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Researchers synthesized evidence on how microplastics function as dynamic mixtures of polymers, additives, and adsorbed organic contaminants — forming an 'ecocorona' — and reviewed how chronic exposure reduces feeding, depletes energy reserves, impairs fecundity, and may alter ecosystem processes including carbon flux to the deep ocean.
Marine microscopic plastic (microplastic) debris is a modern societal issue, illustrating the challenge of balancing the convenience of plastic in daily life with the prospect of causing ecological harm by careless disposal. Here we develop the concept of microplastic as a complex, dynamic mixture of polymers and additives, to which organic material and contaminants can successively bind to form an 'ecocorona', increasing the density and surface charge of particles and changing their bioavailability and toxicity. Chronic exposure to microplastic is rarely lethal, but can adversely affect individual animals, reducing feeding and depleting energy stores, with knock-on effects for fecundity and growth. We explore the extent to which ecological processes could be impacted, including altered behaviours, bioturbation and impacts on carbon flux to the deep ocean. We discuss how microplastic compares with other anthropogenic pollutants in terms of ecological risk, and consider the role of science and society in tackling this global issue in the future.
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Interactions of microplastics throughout the marine ecosystem
AI summary Read the abstract
This conceptual review developed the idea of microplastic as a complex, dynamic mixture that accumulates organic material and contaminants into an 'ecocorona', changing particles' bioavailability and toxicity over time. The authors examined evidence for how chronic microplastic exposure reduces feeding, depletes energy, and impairs fecundity and growth across marine species.
Physiological and biochemical effects of microplastics on corals: Environmental and ecological impacts and mitigation strategies and policy options
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Researchers review how microplastic ingestion disrupts coral physiology through oxidative stress, impaired larval settlement, reduced feeding efficiency, and vectoring of co-contaminants including heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants, with microplastic-induced bleaching linked to destabilization of the anthozoan-algae symbiosis.
The Composition of the Eco-corona Acquired by Micro- and Nanoscale Plastics Impacts on their Ecotoxicity and Interactions with Co-pollutants
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This review examines how the 'eco-corona' — a layer of environmental biomolecules adsorbing onto plastic particle surfaces — alters the toxicity, transport, and interaction with co-pollutants of micro- and nanoplastics, emphasizing that this biological coating fundamentally changes how plastics behave in living organisms.
The interaction of micro/nano plastics and the environment: Effects of ecological corona on the toxicity to aquatic organisms.
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This review examines how the ecological corona — the layer of organic matter, proteins, and microbes that form on micro- and nanoplastic surfaces in water — affects their toxicity to aquatic organisms. The ecological corona can either increase or decrease toxicity depending on its composition, making real-world plastic hazard assessment more complex than laboratory tests with clean particles suggest.
A Critical Review on Biological Impacts, Ecotoxicity, and Health Risks Associated with Microplastics
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Researchers review the biological impacts and ecotoxicity of microplastics across ecosystems, documenting how these persistent particles transfer through trophic levels, disrupt feeding behavior, obstruct digestive tracts, impair respiratory and reproductive systems in aquatic species, and have been detected in human placentas, while calling for stronger regulations to limit environmental accumulation.
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