Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Microbiome Composition and Function in Aquatic Vertebrates: Small Organisms Making Big Impacts on Aquatic Animal Health

This review examines how microbiomes (communities of microorganisms) function in fish and marine mammals, and how environmental stressors like microplastics can disrupt them. Microplastics in water can alter the natural balance of beneficial microbes in aquatic animals, potentially affecting their health and the safety of seafood. Understanding these disruptions matters because changes in fish microbiomes could affect the quality and safety of the fish that end up on our plates.

2021 Frontiers in Microbiology 283 citations
Article Tier 2

How microplastics influence the health and microbiota of aquatic invertebrates: A review

This review examines how microplastics affect the health and microbiota of aquatic invertebrates, an area that has received less attention than fish studies. Researchers summarize evidence showing that microplastics cause toxicity at biological and molecular levels, alter microbial communities associated with invertebrate hosts, and interact with climate change and other pollutants to produce combined effects. The study highlights significant knowledge gaps and proposes future research directions for understanding microplastic impacts on aquatic ecosystems.

2025 Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part C Toxicology & Pharmacology 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbiological perspectives on the effects of microplastics on the aquatic environment

This review examines how microplastics interact with microorganisms in aquatic environments, highlighting risks to microbial communities and the potential for microplastics to disrupt ecosystem functions. Microplastics may alter microbial diversity and promote the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

2019 IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Aquatic Environments

This review summarizes the current state of microplastic research in aquatic environments, covering the plastisphere — the microbial community that colonizes plastic surfaces — and the ways microplastics interact with other aquatic organisms. The paper highlights microplastics as a growing ecological concern that affects food webs and ecosystem processes.

2022 Microplastics 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastics in our water: Fish microbiomes at risk?

This review examined how microplastics and leached plasticizers affect the gut microbiomes of freshwater and marine fish, summarizing evidence for dysbiosis and reduced microbial diversity and discussing potential consequences for fish immunity, metabolism, and environmental fitness.

2021 Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part D Genomics and Proteomics 25 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as an aquatic pollutant affect gut microbiota within aquatic animals

This review examined how microplastics affect the gut microbiota of aquatic animals, analyzing the roles of plastic-associated chemicals and biofilms in disrupting microbial communities from ingestion through physiological impacts.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 109 citations
Article Tier 2

Chemical pollution and microbiomes responses

This paper reviewed how chemical pollution affects microbial community composition and function across different environments. Exposure to pollutants including plastics, heavy metals, and pesticides can disrupt microbial diversity and the ecosystem services microbes provide. The review calls for greater integration of microbiome science into environmental risk assessment.

2023 HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe)
Article Tier 2

Human impact on symbioses between aquatic organisms and microbes

This review examined how human-driven stressors — including pollution, climate change, and habitat modification — disrupt beneficial microbial symbioses in aquatic organisms, arguing that disrupted host-microbe relationships represent an underappreciated pathway through which environmental degradation harms aquatic ecosystems.

2021 Aquatic Microbial Ecology 30 citations
Article Tier 2

The effects of exposure to microplastics and pollutants on the arthropod microbiome

This thesis investigated how microplastics and other pollutants (pesticides, detergents, metals) affect the gut microbiome of freshwater invertebrates. Disruption of the host-microbiome relationship by microplastics could impair immune function and overall health in aquatic organisms that form important parts of the food web.

2021 Digital comprehensive summaries of Uppsala dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology
Article Tier 2

Microplastics disrupt microbial functions in aquatic ecosystems

Microplastics in water don't just sit passively — they rapidly become colonized by microorganisms, forming the "plastisphere," and this can fundamentally alter how aquatic ecosystems function. This review synthesizes evidence that microplastics and their associated biofilms can carry pathogens, harmful algae, and chemical pollutants, while also disrupting critical processes like nitrogen cycling and photosynthesis in rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. The authors identify significant gaps in understanding what happens when microplastics interact with oils and other hazardous substances, which is an urgent frontier for future research.

2026 Heliyon
Article Tier 2

Microplastics provide new microbial niches in aquatic environments

This review explores how microplastics in aquatic environments serve as new surfaces for microbial colonization, creating biofilm communities that can differ significantly from naturally occurring ones. Researchers found that these plastic-associated biofilms may harbor unique combinations of microorganisms, including potentially harmful species, with largely unknown consequences for aquatic ecosystems. The study calls for combining advanced molecular tools with traditional analyses to better understand the ecological role of these newly created microbial habitats.

2020 Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 410 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in urban waters and its effects on microbial communities: a critical review

This critical review examined microplastic pollution in urban freshwater systems and its effects on microbial communities including water microbiomes and biofilm communities. The authors found evidence that microplastics alter microbial diversity, promote antibiotic resistance gene transfer, and disrupt carbon and nutrient cycling.

2022 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Decoding the Microbiome-Energy Nexus in Aquatic Ecosystems for Sustainable Fisheries Management and Pollution Mitigation

This review explored the microbiome-energy nexus in aquatic ecosystems — the relationship between microbial metabolic activity and energy flow through food webs — and how it is disrupted by anthropogenic stressors including microplastics and heavy metals. The authors argue that protecting this nexus is fundamental to sustainable fisheries management.

2025 Natural and Engineering Sciences
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Exposure Across Trophic Levels: Effects on the Host Microbiota of Freshwater Organisms

Researchers investigated how microplastic exposure affects the gut bacteria communities of freshwater organisms including fish, invertebrates, and crustaceans. Microplastics—particularly when combined with pesticides—altered gut microbiota composition, which could impair digestion, immunity, and overall health of freshwater species.

2021 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics on Daphnia-associated microbiomes in situ and in vitro

This study investigated how microplastic exposure alters the microbiome associated with Daphnia in freshwater, finding shifts in bacterial community composition that may affect host health and ecological function. The results suggest that microplastics can indirectly harm zooplankton by disrupting their microbial symbionts.

2024
Article Tier 2

Aquatic Biofilms and Plastisphere

This review examined aquatic biofilms and plastisphere communities that colonize microplastic surfaces, discussing how plastic substrates select for distinct microbial assemblages and may harbor pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes.

2024 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial colonization of microplastic particles in aquatic systems

This review examined how microplastic particles become colonized by diverse microbial communities in aquatic environments, forming the so-called plastisphere. The research highlights that microplastics create novel ecological niches and may facilitate the spread of pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes in freshwater and marine systems.

2018 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Gut microbiota of aquatic organisms: A key endpoint for ecotoxicological studies

This review examines how environmental contaminants including microplastics, pesticides, heavy metals, and pharmaceuticals affect the gut microbiota of aquatic organisms. Researchers highlight that changes in gut bacterial communities can serve as sensitive indicators of pollution exposure and may have downstream effects on host fitness. The study calls for improved methodologies to better link contaminant-induced shifts in gut microbiota to measurable health outcomes in aquatic species.

2019 Environmental Pollution 261 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial Colonization and Degradation of Microplastics in Aquatic Ecosystem: A Review

This review examines how microorganisms colonize and form biofilms on microplastics in aquatic environments, creating a plastisphere where bacteria and fungi can potentially degrade plastic particles through enzymatic processes.

2021 Geomicrobiology Journal 154 citations
Article Tier 2

Investigating Micro-Plastic Pollution and its Consequences on Aquatic Communities

This review examined how microplastic pollution affects aquatic communities, discussing sources of microplastics, routes of exposure, and documented ecological consequences for wildlife and the human food supply that depends on healthy aquatic ecosystems.

2023 Oceanography & Fisheries Open access Journal
Article Tier 2

Effects of environmental factors on host-microbiota interactions in the guts of aquatic organisms: A review

This review synthesizes how environmental stressors — including microplastics, heavy metals, photoperiod, and aquaculture feed additives — alter gut microbiota in fish and aquatic invertebrates, identifying common patterns of microbial disruption and compromised gut barrier integrity.

2025 Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part C Toxicology & Pharmacology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic-Associated Biofilms and Their Role in the Fate of Microplastics in Aquatic Environment

This review examines how microbial biofilms attached to microplastics in aquatic environments mediate the accumulation and transfer of chemical pollutants, exploring how the 'plastisphere' community influences the fate and ecotoxicological impact of microplastics and co-contaminants.

2025
Article Tier 2

Unveiling the hidden world of microorganisms and their impact on the Earth's ecosystems

This paper is not directly about microplastics; it is a broad review of microbial ecology covering microorganism roles in biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and metals, and how advances in genomics have transformed our understanding of microbial community diversity and function.

2023 mLife
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: New substrates for heterotrophic activity contribute to altering organic matter cycles in aquatic ecosystems

This study demonstrated that heterotrophic bacteria colonizing microplastic surfaces in aquatic ecosystems have distinct metabolic capabilities and can process organic matter at rates different from planktonic bacteria. The findings suggest that the plastisphere — the microbial community on plastic surfaces — may alter organic matter cycling in aquatic environments as microplastic abundance grows.

2018 The Science of The Total Environment 193 citations