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The threats of micro- and nanoplastics to aquatic ecosystems and water health
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This review details how micro- and nanoplastics in global water sources indirectly threaten water quality by disrupting carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur biogeochemical cycles, transporting pathogens, and amplifying the persistence and bioavailability of co-occurring contaminants. The analysis calls for advanced water treatment technologies, early warning systems, and integrated regulatory frameworks to protect water security from the cascading effects of microplastic pollution.
Micro(nano)plastics (MNPs) are pervasive in global water sources, posing indirect threats to water quality by disrupting biogeochemical cycles, facilitating pathogen dispersion and interacting with emerging contaminants. Here we delve into the intricate ways in which MNPs affect nutrient sequestration, essential element adsorption and microbial functions, consequently impacting the carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur cycles in aquatic environments. MNPs act as carriers for pathogens, potentially exacerbating transmission risks and endangering both aquatic ecosystems and human health. Moreover, their synergy with emerging contaminants amplifies contaminant persistence and bioavailability, warranting a deeper understanding of these implications for water security. We outline strategies for assessing the contributions of MNPs and implementing regulatory frameworks to mitigate their indirect effects. To manage these interactions under fluctuating environmental variables, advanced water treatment, modular control strategies, and early warning are essential. A holistic approach involving research, innovation and policy is imperative to protect water quality from MNPs-related impacts. Micro- and nanoplastics indirectly threaten water quality by disrupting biogeochemical cycles, transporting pathogens and interacting with emerging contaminants. This Review highlights their complex environmental roles and outlines regulatory and technological strategies to mitigate their impacts on aquatic ecosystems and water health.
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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.
Impact of Microplastics and Nanoplastics in the Aquatic Environment
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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.
The environmental effects of microplastics on aquatic ecosystems
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Researchers reviewed the growing body of evidence on how microplastics harm aquatic ecosystems, finding that long-term exposure damages organisms at multiple levels — from delivering toxic chemicals to disrupting reproduction — and calling for urgent action to reduce plastic leakage into waterways.
Microplastics: An Emerging Threat to the Aquatic Ecosystem
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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.
Micro and Nanoplastics in Aquatic Environment
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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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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.