Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Elevated pCO2 alleviates the toxic effects of polystyrene nanoparticles on the marine microalga Nannochloropsis oceanica

Researchers found that simulated ocean acidification (elevated CO2) significantly reduced the toxicity of polystyrene nanoparticles to the marine microalga Nannochloropsis oceanica, likely because acidic conditions caused nanoparticles to aggregate into larger, less bioavailable clusters and promoted ribosomal protein synthesis that helped cells cope with nanoparticle stress.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Dual impacts of elevated pCO2 on the ecological effects induced by microplastics and nanoplastics: A study with Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Researchers examined how freshwater acidification from elevated carbon dioxide interacts with polystyrene micro- and nanoplastics to affect a common green algae species. They found that smaller nanoplastics caused greater harm than larger microplastics, primarily through oxidative stress, while acidification alone actually promoted algal growth. The study reveals that climate change and plastic pollution can interact in unexpected ways, with acidification sometimes masking or modifying the toxic effects of plastic particles.

2025 Aquatic Toxicology 2 citations
Review Tier 2

Environmental behavior and toxic effects of micro(nano)plastics and engineered nanoparticles on marine organisms under ocean acidification: A review.

This review examined how ocean acidification interacts with the toxicity of micro- and nano-plastics and engineered nanoparticles in marine ecosystems, finding that lower pH can alter particle surface chemistry and enhance toxic effects in some organisms. The combined stressor perspective is important because climate change and plastic pollution are co-occurring in the same marine environments.

2024 Environmental research
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics and ocean warming: Combined impact on physiology and surface properties of the marine microalga Dunaliella tertiolecta

Researchers investigated whether ocean warming amplifies the toxicity of amine-modified polystyrene nanoplastics in the marine microalga Dunaliella tertiolecta. Elevated temperature increased nanoplastic toxicity, worsening reactive oxygen species production, oxidative stress, and cell surface changes, suggesting climate change will intensify nanoplastic hazards to marine primary producers.

2025 Marine Pollution Bulletin
Article Tier 2

Impacts of microplastic and seawater acidification on unicellular red algae: Growth response, photosynthesis, antioxidant enzymes, and extracellular polymer substances

Researchers examined the individual and combined effects of polystyrene microplastics and seawater acidification on unicellular red algae, which play an important role in marine primary production. They measured impacts on growth, photosynthesis, antioxidant enzyme activity, and extracellular polymer production. The study found that the combined stressors had more pronounced effects than either one alone, suggesting that ocean acidification may worsen the ecological impact of microplastic pollution on marine algae.

2024 Aquatic Toxicology 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxicity of microplastics and nano-plastics to coral-symbiotic alga (Dinophyceae Symbiodinium): Evidence from alga physiology, ultrastructure, OJIP kinetics and multi-omics

Researchers studied how microplastics and nanoplastics damage Symbiodinium, the algae that live inside coral and keep reefs alive. Even at concentrations found in the real environment, the plastic particles disrupted photosynthesis, caused oxidative stress, and triggered metabolic problems in the algae. Since the breakdown of this coral-algae partnership leads to coral bleaching, microplastic pollution could threaten the reef ecosystems that support fisheries and coastal communities worldwide.

2024 Water Research 19 citations
Article Tier 2

Biological Responses to Climate Change and Nanoplastics Are Altered in Concert: Full-Factor Screening Reveals Effects of Multiple Stressors on Primary Producers

Using high-throughput screening of a freshwater green alga, researchers tested how nanoplastics interact with multiple climate change stressors (temperature, CO2, pH, UV), finding that nanoplastics combined with warming or UV caused greater harm than either alone, and that climate change will likely amplify nanoplastic toxicity.

2020 Environmental Science & Technology 87 citations
Article Tier 2

Warming coupled with elevated pCO2 modulates microplastic inhibition in a commercial red alga Pyropia haitanensis

Researchers cultured the commercially important red seaweed Pyropia haitanensis under elevated CO₂, warming, and a range of microplastic concentrations, finding that microplastics caused strong concentration-dependent stress on growth and photosynthesis, but that elevated pCO₂ modulated these inhibitory effects.

2025 Marine Pollution Bulletin
Article Tier 2

Response of Coral Reef Dinoflagellates to Nanoplastics under Experimental Conditions Suggests Downregulation of Cellular Metabolism

Coral reef dinoflagellates were exposed to nanoplastics under controlled laboratory conditions to examine effects on cell growth, aggregation, and physiology. The study found that nanoplastic exposure altered dinoflagellate behavior and cellular responses, with implications for reef symbiotic relationships that depend on algal health.

2020 Microorganisms 39 citations
Article Tier 2

Oxidative stress–mediated synergistic deleterious effects of nano- and microplastics in the hypoxia-conditioned marine rotifer Brachionus plicatilis

Researchers found that co-exposure to nano- and microplastics under low-oxygen conditions produced synergistic harmful effects in marine rotifers across multiple generations, driven by oxidative stress and disruption of the hypoxia-inducible factor pathway.

2022 Marine Pollution Bulletin 25 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro- and nanoplastic stress intensifies Microcystis aeruginosa physiology and toxin risks under environmentally relevant water chemistry conditions

Researchers exposed the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa to environmentally relevant concentrations of micro- and nanoplastics, finding both significantly enhanced algal biomass and microcystin toxin production, with nanoplastics additionally promoting extracellular toxin release.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials
Article Tier 2

Micro- and nanoplastics effects in a multiple stressed marine environment

Researchers examined how micro- and nanoplastics interact with other environmental stressors in marine settings, finding that realistic multi-stressor scenarios can amplify or modify plastic toxicity in ways single-exposure studies miss.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 21 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro/nanoplastic-induced stress in microalgae: Latest laboratory evidence and knowledge gaps

This review compiled laboratory evidence on how micro- and nanoplastics stress microalgae — the base of aquatic food webs — covering effects on photosynthesis, growth, oxidative stress, and toxin production. The authors identify key knowledge gaps including environmentally realistic concentrations and combined contaminant effects.

2025 Aquatic Toxicology
Article Tier 2

Uptake and Effects of Nanoplastics on the Dinoflagellate Gymnodinium corollarium

This study exposed the marine dinoflagellate Gymnodinium corollarium to nanoplastics and found that, although the organism can ingest particles via phagotrophy, nanoplastic uptake disrupted cell growth and photosynthesis, highlighting the vulnerability of unicellular marine organisms to nanoplastic pollution.

2023 Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of Nanoplastics on the Dinoflagellate Amphidinium carterae Hulburt from the Perspectives of Algal Growth, Oxidative Stress and Hemolysin Production

Polystyrene nanoplastics at 50 nm diameter inhibited growth, reduced chlorophyll content, elevated reactive oxygen species, and enhanced hemolysin production in the marine dinoflagellate Amphidinium carterae, suggesting that nanoplastic pollution could impair harmful algal bloom dynamics and broader marine food web function.

2021 Nanomaterials 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Nano-ecotoxicology in a changing ocean

Researchers reviewed how ocean warming, acidification, and chemical co-contaminants interact with nanomaterial pollution in marine environments, finding that these combined stressors often alter how toxic nanoparticles behave in seawater — sometimes making them more dangerous and sometimes less — highlighting the need to study pollutants in realistic, multi-stressor conditions.

2022 SN Applied Sciences 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics exposure modulate lipid and pigment compositions in diatoms

Researchers exposed marine diatoms (Chaetoceros neogracile) to amine-functionalized polystyrene nanoplastics and found disruption to photosynthetic pigments and membrane lipid composition, with exponential-phase cells showing impaired long-chain fatty acid synthesis at high concentrations — identifying lipid and pigment profiles as sensitive biomarkers for nanoplastic stress in marine primary producers.

2020 Environmental Pollution 59 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of micro- and nano-plastics on growth, antioxidant system, DMS, and DMSP production in Emiliania huxleyi

Researchers exposed a key ocean-dwelling algae species to polystyrene micro- and nanoplastics and found that both sizes impaired growth and triggered oxidative stress. The nanoplastics were more harmful than microplastics, reducing chlorophyll content and altering the production of climate-relevant sulfur compounds. The study suggests that plastic pollution could disrupt ocean algae that play an important role in regulating atmospheric chemistry and climate.

2024 Environmental Pollution 8 citations
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

Micro/nano-plastics and microalgae in aquatic environment: Influence factor, interaction, and molecular mechanisms.

This review examined the interactions between micro/nanoplastics and microalgae in aquatic environments, summarizing how plastic particle size, surface chemistry, and co-pollutants influence algal toxicity through oxidative stress, photosynthesis inhibition, and gene expression changes.

2024 The Science of the total environment
Article Tier 2

Marine mussel metabolism under stress: Dual effects of nanoplastics and coastal hypoxia

This study examined how nanoplastics and low oxygen levels together affect marine mussels, finding that both stressors disrupted the animals' internal balance and energy metabolism. The combination of nanoplastics and oxygen-depleted water was more harmful than either stressor alone, damaging cellular defenses against oxidative stress. Since mussels are widely consumed as seafood, these findings raise questions about the safety of shellfish harvested from polluted, oxygen-poor coastal waters.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Antagonistic and synergistic effects of warming and microplastics on microalgae: Case study of the red tide species Prorocentrum donghaiense

Researchers exposed the red tide microalgae Prorocentrum donghaiense to different microplastic concentrations and temperatures, finding that microplastics significantly suppressed growth and photosynthesis at 16 degrees C but that higher temperatures (22 and 28 degrees C) partially counteracted these effects at low microplastic doses. The antagonistic and synergistic outcomes of combined warming and microplastic exposure depended on microplastic concentration.

2022 Environmental Pollution 43 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoparticle-Biological Interactions in a Marine Benthic Foraminifer

Researchers exposed single-celled marine organisms called foraminifera to three types of engineered nanoparticles — including polystyrene nanoplastics — and found that all three accumulated inside the cells and triggered oxidative stress (a form of cellular damage). This study shows that even microscopic seafloor organisms are vulnerable to nanoplastic pollution, expanding the known range of species harmed by plastic contamination.

2019 Scientific Reports 40 citations
Article Tier 2

Response of coral reef dinoflagellates to nanoplastics under experimental conditions

Researchers exposed symbiotic dinoflagellates from coral reefs to polystyrene nanoplastics and found that cell growth and aggregation were significantly reduced after 10 days. The findings suggest that nanoplastic pollution could harm the tiny algae that are essential to coral reef health, with potential consequences for reef ecosystems.

2020 5 citations