Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Decreased Dimethylsulfideand Increased PolybrominatedMethanes: Potential Climate Effects of Microplastic Pollution in AcidifiedOcean

Researchers conducted a ship-based microcosm experiment to investigate how combined microplastic pollution and ocean acidification affect biogenic climate-active gases, finding decreased dimethylsulfide and increased polybrominated methanes, with potential implications for marine climate regulation.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Decreased Dimethylsulfide and Increased Polybrominated Methanes: Potential Climate Effects of Microplastic Pollution in Acidified Ocean

A ship-based microcosm experiment simulating ocean acidification and microplastic pollution found that combined conditions decreased dimethylsulfide production and increased polybrominated methane emissions, with potential climate-active gas implications for ocean carbon cycling.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of micro- and nano-plastics on community assemblages and dimethylated sulfur compounds production

Researchers conducted a field microcosm experiment to study how micro- and nanoplastics affect marine plankton communities and the production of climate-relevant sulfur compounds. They found that medium and high concentrations of polystyrene, polyethylene, and polyamide particles disrupted zooplankton grazing and altered the production of dimethyl sulfide. The study suggests that plastic pollution could interfere with marine biogeochemical cycles that play a role in climate regulation.

2026 Environmental Pollution
Article Tier 2

Impacts of nano- and micro-plastics exposure on zooplankton grazing, bacterial communities, and dimethylated sulfur compounds production in the microcosms

Researchers investigated how nano- and microplastics affect zooplankton grazing, bacterial communities, and the production of climate-relevant dimethyl sulfide compounds. The study found that plastic particle exposure reduced zooplankton feeding rates and disrupted dimethyl sulfide production in a dose- and size-dependent manner, with nanoplastics showing greater toxicity than larger microplastics.

2024 Environmental Pollution 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics Stress Alters Microorganism Community Structure and Reduces the Production of Biogenic Dimethylated Sulfur Compounds

Researchers studied how microplastic stress alters marine microbial community composition and affects production of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and dimethyl sulfide, which play key roles in global sulfur cycling and cloud formation. Microplastic exposure shifted microbial community structure and significantly reduced DMSP and DMS production, with potential implications for climate-relevant atmospheric sulfur emissions from the ocean.

2025
Article Tier 2

Microplastics stress alters microorganism community structure and reduces the production of biogenic dimethylated sulfur compounds

This study examined how microplastic stress affects marine microbial community structure and the production of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) -- sulfur compounds that play key roles in global sulfur cycling and cloud formation. Microplastic exposure altered microbial community composition and significantly reduced DMSP and DMS production, indicating potential cascading effects on global climate-regulating biogeochemical cycles.

2024 Limnology and Oceanography 6 citations
Article Tier 2

[Effects of Polyethylene Microplastics on Growth and Halocarbon Release of Marine Microalgae].

Lab experiments showed that polyethylene microplastics affected two species of marine microalgae differently, inhibiting growth of one while promoting growth of the other. Microplastic stress also increased production of reactive oxygen species and altered the release of volatile halocarbons, trace gases important for climate and ozone chemistry.

2023 PubMed 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics promote methane emission in estuarine and coastal wetlands

This study found that microplastics in coastal and estuarine wetlands increase methane emissions by boosting the activity of methane-producing microorganisms while reducing methane-consuming ones. Both conventional and biodegradable plastics had this effect, meaning microplastic pollution is not just a direct health concern but also contributes to climate change by amplifying greenhouse gas release from natural ecosystems.

2024 Water Research 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic accelerate the phosphorus-related metabolism of bacteria to promote the decomposition of methylphosphonate to methane

Researchers found that microplastics accelerate phosphorus-related metabolism in marine bacteria, promoting the decomposition of methylphosphonate to methane in oxygenated water and revealing a previously unknown mechanism linking plastic pollution to greenhouse gas production.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Sea Ice and Water Mass Influence Dimethylsulfide Concentrations in the Central Arctic Ocean

Researchers measured a climate-relevant gas (dimethylsulfide) in Arctic Ocean surface waters and found concentrations were influenced by sea ice extent and water mass type. This study is focused on atmospheric chemistry rather than microplastics.

2019 Frontiers in Earth Science 42 citations
Article Tier 2

Polystyrene microplastics alter plankton community and enhance greenhouse gas emissions: A case study in the China coastal sea

Researchers demonstrated through ship-based and laboratory experiments that polystyrene microplastics suppress phytoplankton growth by up to 82 percent and increase dissolved organic carbon accumulation in coastal seawater. The microplastics restructured plankton communities and enhanced the production of brominated volatile halocarbons, which are ozone-depleting substances and greenhouse gases. The study suggests that microplastic pollution in coastal waters may have cascading effects on marine carbon cycling and atmospheric chemistry.

2025 Water Research 1 citations
Article Tier 2

A Study of the Effects of Microplastics on Microbial Communities in Marine Sediments

This study investigated how the presence of microplastics in marine sediments affects microbial communities and, specifically, the methane cycle, finding that microplastics significantly altered microbial community structure and function. Since marine sediment microbes play a critical role in regulating greenhouse gas emissions, microplastic contamination could have broader climate-relevant effects beyond direct toxicity.

2024 Highlights in Science Engineering and Technology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics Reshape the Fate of Aqueous Carbon by Inducing Dynamic Changes in Biodiversity and Chemodiversity

Researchers found that microplastics reshape aqueous carbon cycling by releasing chemical additives that inhibit autotrophic bacteria, promoting CO2 emissions, and stimulating microbial metabolic pathways that transform dissolved organic matter into more stable, less bioavailable forms.

2023 Environmental Science & Technology 58 citations
Article Tier 2

From pollution to ocean warming: The climate impacts of marine microplastics

This review examined the largely overlooked role of marine microplastics in driving climate change, covering how they disrupt oceanic carbon pumps, alter biogeochemical cycling, and directly emit greenhouse gases during UV degradation. The authors found that microplastics reduce the efficiency of the biological carbon pump by impairing marine organisms that sequester carbon, creating a feedback loop between plastic pollution and ocean warming.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials Plastics
Article Tier 2

Warming and microplastic pollution shape the carbon and nitrogen cycles of algae

Researchers investigated how ocean warming combined with microplastic pollution affects carbon and nitrogen cycling in marine diatoms and dinoflagellates, revealing that these combined stressors alter key biochemical processes in dominant phytoplankton species.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 51 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics Amplify Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Freshwater Sediments through Synergistic Interactions

A large-scale aquatic microcosm experiment with 1264 containers found that greater microplastic chemical diversity — more types of polymers together — significantly amplified greenhouse gas emissions from freshwater sediments, with warming temperature further compounding the effect.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics exposure on ingestion, fecundity, development, and dimethylsulfide production in Tigriopus japonicus (Harpacticoida, copepod)

Researchers tested how polyethylene and nylon-6 microplastics affect the copepod Tigriopus japonicus, finding that microplastic exposure reduced feeding and reproductive output and suppressed the production of the climate-relevant gas dimethylsulfide during copepod grazing.

2020 Environmental Pollution 77 citations
Article Tier 2

Greenhouse gas cycling by the plastisphere: The sleeper issue of plastic pollution

The microbial community living on ocean microplastics (the plastisphere) appears to contribute to cycling of greenhouse gases CO2 and N2O in the South Pacific Ocean. This finding suggests that the plastisphere may play a previously unrecognized role in ocean biogeochemistry with implications for climate change.

2019 Chemosphere 58 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics AmplifyGreenhouse Gas Emissions fromFreshwater Sediments through Synergistic Interactions

Researchers found that increasing microplastic chemodiversity — measured by polymer type number and chemical composition — amplified greenhouse gas emissions from freshwater sediments by up to 4.69-fold in aquatic microcosms, with synergistic interactions prevailing when three or more polymer types were combined. This amplification effect was further intensified under warming conditions and was mediated by shifts in microbial community composition and dissolved organic matter.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Research progress in ecotoxicology of climate change coupled with marine pollutions

This review examined how rising ocean temperatures and acidification from climate change interact with marine pollutants including microplastics, finding that combined stressors often produce worse effects than either alone. The research underscores that plastic pollution cannot be addressed in isolation from the broader context of global climate change.

2017 Chinese Science Bulletin (Chinese Version) 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and their mechanisms in influencing methane oxidation: A physiological and ecological perspective

This review examines the physiological and ecological mechanisms by which microplastics influence methane oxidation processes in the environment, synthesising current understanding of how ubiquitous plastic contamination may disrupt microbial communities responsible for mitigating methane — a greenhouse gas 20-30 times more potent than CO2.

2025 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
Article Tier 2

Marine plastics alter the organic matter composition of the air-sea boundary layer, with influences on CO2 exchange: a large-scale analysis method to explore future ocean scenarios

Researchers used six large-scale mesocosms filled with Mediterranean seawater to simulate high microplastic concentration scenarios, finding that polystyrene microbeads increased microbial biomass production and organic matter enrichment in the sea-surface microlayer, with potential implications for CO2 gas exchange at the air-sea boundary.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 17 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of polystyrene microplastic on the growth and volatile halocarbons release of microalgae Phaeodactylum tricornutum

Researchers found that polystyrene microplastics inhibit the growth of the marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum and significantly alter the release of volatile halocarbons, including trihalomethanes, raising concerns about microplastic impacts on oceanic climate-active trace gas production.

2021 Marine Pollution Bulletin 32 citations
Article Tier 2

Emerging challenges of microplastic impacts to ecological health and climate change

This review examines how microplastics contribute not only to environmental pollution but also to climate change by altering microbial processes, disrupting biogeochemical cycles, and promoting greenhouse gas release. Researchers found that microplastics affect carbon cycling, phytoplankton photosynthesis, and atmospheric processes in ways that may exacerbate global warming. The study highlights significant knowledge gaps in understanding the mechanisms linking microplastic pollution to greenhouse gas emissions.

2025 Marine Pollution Bulletin 1 citations