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Phthalate Esters in Aquatic Ecosystems: A Multiscale Threat from Molecular Disruption to Ecological Risks
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This review synthesizes how phthalate ester plasticizers propagate from molecular endocrine disruption and immunotoxicity through individual reproductive failure to ecosystem-level collapse, highlighting that high-molecular-weight PAEs undergo trophic dilution rather than biomagnification. The finding that phthalates drive bottom-up toxicity cascades that suppress energy transfer and simplify aquatic communities underscores the systemic ecological risks posed by plastic-associated chemical additives leaching from microplastics.
Phthalate esters (PAEs), ubiquitous plastic additives, have emerged as persistent contaminants in aquatic ecosystems, yet their propagation from molecular initiating events to ecosystem-level collapse remains poorly integrated. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the source-to-sink dynamics of PAEs, revealing a critical paradox in their bioaccumulation patterns: unlike classical persistent organic pollutants, high molecular weight PAEs exhibit distinct trophic dilution rather than biomagnification along food webs, driven by metabolic biotransformation in higher trophic organisms. Despite this dilution, PAEs trigger a bottom-up toxicity cascade. Driven by molecular initiating events, PAEs induce a range of adverse effects at the individual level, including immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption, metabolic dysfunction, and trans-trophic oxidative stress. Crucially, prolonged exposure drives epigenetic reprogramming, which reduces reproductive output, thereby threatening long-term population recruitment. These individual and population deficits could escalate into higher ecological consequences, specifically by diminishing benthic biological control over phytoplankton, dampening energy transfer efficiency, and simplifying community structure, thereby posing a potential threat to primary productivity and aquatic ecosystem sustainability. Despite recent advances, critical knowledge gaps remain, particularly regarding their cascading impacts on ecosystem services, as well as synergistic interactions between PAEs and other contaminants. In order to validate laboratory results with actual ecological risk assessments, future research should incorporate multi-scale models and quantitative adverse outcome Pathways as well as their synergistic interactions between PAEs and other contaminants, and advanced in vitro systems such as organoids. Resolving these issues is essential to reducing the risks that PAEs pose to aquatic environments.
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Silent Disruptors: The Multifaceted Impact of Phthalates Across Aquatic Invertebrate and Vertebrate Taxa
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Phthalates — plastic additives found ubiquitously in the environment — induce reproductive toxicity, oxidative stress, immune impairment, neuroendocrine disruption, and transgenerational epigenetic effects across invertebrate and vertebrate taxa. This review directly implicates microplastic-associated phthalate leaching as a mechanism of broad ecological harm, emphasizing the need to include non-model taxa in regulatory risk assessments for plastic-derived chemical pollution.
A review of phathalates in water: A toxic threat to aquatic life
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Researchers reviewed the aquatic toxicity of phthalate ester plasticizers across microorganisms, algae, invertebrates, and fish, finding that lower-molecular-weight phthalates are the most harmful and that these ubiquitous plastic additives pose broad ecological risks to aquatic ecosystems.
Microplastics as a source of phthalate esters in water: A review on occurrence, release mechanism, and ecological risk assessment
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This review pulls together existing research showing that microplastics floating in rivers and lakes aren't just plastic particles, they're also slowly leaking out chemical additives called phthalates, which are known to disrupt hormones. Even worse, as plastics break down over time from sun and physical wear, they release these chemicals faster and can also carry along other pollutants like heavy metals, potentially making the combined exposure more harmful to fish and other aquatic life that ingest them. While this study focused on water ecosystems rather than direct human health effects, it matters because these contaminated waters and organisms are part of the food chain and water supply humans rely
Remediation of phthalate acid esters from contaminated environment—Insights on the bioremedial approaches and future perspectives
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Researchers reviewed bioremediation approaches for removing phthalate plasticizers from contaminated environments, finding that microbial degradation — especially by bacteria and fungi capable of metabolizing these lipophilic compounds — offers a promising and cost-effective alternative to physicochemical treatment methods.
Phthalates and organophosphate esters in surface water, sediments and zooplankton of the NW Mediterranean Sea: Exploring links with microplastic abundance and accumulation in the marine food web
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Phthalate esters and organophosphate esters were measured alongside microplastics in surface seawater, sediment, and zooplankton from Marseille Bay in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. Co-occurrence of microplastics and plastic additive chemicals in multiple environmental compartments including zooplankton confirmed trophic transfer of both particle and chemical contaminants.
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