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Papers
20 resultsShowing papers similar to Interactive Threats: Multi-stress Systems in Aquatic Environments
ClearMicro- 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.
Responses of freshwater organisms to multiple stressors in a climate change scenario: a review on small-scale experiments
This review summarizes 156 publications on how freshwater organisms respond to combinations of temperature and salinity changes along with other stressors including metals, pesticides, and emerging contaminants like microplastics in controlled small-scale experiments. It finds that combined stressor effects are often non-additive and species-specific, with significant knowledge gaps remaining for microplastic interactions under climate change scenarios.
Multi-Interacting Natural and Anthropogenic Stressors on Freshwater Ecosystems: Their Current Status and Future Prospects for 21st Century
This review examines how multiple environmental stressors including pollution, climate change, invasive species, and nanoparticles are simultaneously degrading freshwater ecosystems worldwide. The combined effects of these stressors, including microplastic contamination, threaten both the ecological health of freshwater systems and the clean water supplies that human civilization depends on.
Multispecies assemblages and multiple stressors: Synthesizing the state of experimental research in freshwaters
This synthesis of experimental freshwater research on multispecies assemblages under multiple stressors found that most studies used only two species and two stressors, revealing important knowledge gaps about how real-world complexity of biodiversity loss and combined pollution affects freshwater ecosystem function.
Multi stress system: Microplastics in freshwater and their effects on host microbiota
This study examined how combined exposure to microplastics and organic chemical pollutants affects freshwater organisms through a multi-stress approach, focusing on gut microbiome changes as an indicator. Microplastic exposure in combination with other pollutants altered microbiome composition more than either stressor alone, with potential consequences for host fitness and disease resistance.
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.
A fishy tale: the impact of multiple stressors on host behaviour, physiology, and susceptibility to infectious disease
This PhD thesis studied how multiple stressors — including microplastics, chemicals, and disease — combine to affect fish behavior, physiology, and vulnerability to infections in freshwater habitats. Freshwater fish face converging threats that are driving population declines faster than any other vertebrate group.
Modelling to inform the conservation and management of aquatic ecosystems: A synthesis of five case studies
Not relevant to microplastics — this paper presents five modeling case studies for managing aquatic ecosystems under threats including invasive species, over-exploitation, and climate change; microplastics are briefly mentioned as one of many stressors but are not the paper's focus.
Environmental risks of microplastics: A Review of their distribution and effects on aquatic ecosystems
This review examined how microplastics threaten aquatic ecosystems through direct physical and chemical stress on organisms and through synergistic interactions with co-contaminants that disrupt food webs. The authors identify key research gaps including realistic multi-stressor experiments and long-term ecosystem-level studies.
Exploring multiple stressor effects with Ecopath, Ecosim, and Ecospace: Research designs, modeling techniques, and future directions
This review examined how the popular Ecopath with Ecosim modeling platform has been used to study multiple environmental stressors in ecosystems, including pollution, climate change, and invasive species. Researchers found that most studies focused on single stressors and rarely addressed microplastic pollution or combined effects of multiple threats. The paper calls for more integrated modeling approaches that capture how different stressors interact in real ecosystems.
Toxicological implications of emerging pollutants on aquatic organisms
Researchers reviewed how a broad range of emerging pollutants — including microplastics, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and heavy metals — harm aquatic organisms like fish, amphibians, and molluscs. Evidence shows these pollutants trigger oxidative stress, disrupt hormones, impair reproduction, and reduce biodiversity, with the review calling for stronger regulations, better wastewater treatment, and more research on the combined effects of multiple pollutants.
Freshwater systems in the Anthropocene: why we need to evaluate microplastics in the context of multiple stressors
Real-world organisms are exposed to microplastics alongside many other environmental stressors — temperature change, chemical pollutants, habitat degradation — yet most lab studies test microplastics in isolation. This review argues that ecotoxicology needs to adopt a multi-stressor approach to truly understand how microplastics affect freshwater life at every level, from individual cells to whole ecosystems. Without this broader context, risk assessments will consistently underestimate the actual harm microplastics cause in nature.
Assessing the Ecological Effects of Multiple Stressors in River and Stream Ecosystems
This doctoral research examines sources, sinks, and ecological impacts of plastics and other chemical contaminants as multiple stressors in river and stream ecosystems, applying contaminant mixture analysis at multiple biological levels from sub-organismal to ecosystem scale.
Changes in population fitness and gene co-expression networks reveal the boosted impact of toxic cyanobacteria on Daphnia magna through microplastic exposure
Researchers found that exposing the water flea Daphnia magna to both toxic cyanobacteria and microplastics together produced worse health effects than either stressor alone, reducing population fitness and altering gene expression patterns. The study suggests that as plastic pollution and harmful algal blooms increasingly overlap in lakes and rivers, aquatic organisms may face compounding threats that are greater than the sum of their parts.
Leveraging Multi-target Strategies to Address Plastic Pollution in the Context of an Already Stressed Ocean
This review examines how plastic pollution interacts with other stressors affecting ocean health, using the Ocean Health Index as a framework. Researchers argue that addressing plastic pollution requires multi-target strategies that account for the already degraded state of marine ecosystems. The study highlights how plastics compound existing environmental pressures on the ocean, from habitat destruction to biodiversity loss.
The effect of climate change and microplastics on the physiology of marine invertebrates of economic interest
This thesis examines how climate change and microplastic pollution interact to affect the physiology of marine invertebrates important for aquaculture. Combined stressors were found to have compounding effects on organisms like mussels and oysters, threatening both ecosystems and food security.
Interconnected impacts of water resource management and climate change on microplastic pollution and riverine biocoenosis: A review by freshwater ecologists
Researchers reviewed how river hydrology, water resource management, and climate change interact to influence microplastic pollution in freshwater ecosystems. They found that floods can flush microplastics from catchments, while reservoirs act as both sinks and sources, and extreme weather events driven by climate change tend to concentrate microplastics and threaten aquatic organisms. The study highlights a critical gap in research that jointly addresses these interconnected factors and calls for integrated policy approaches.
Microplastic-stressor responses are rarely synergistic in freshwater fishes: A meta-analysis
A meta-analysis of 838 responses from 36 studies found that combined microplastic-stressor effects on freshwater fish are predominantly antagonistic (48%) or additive (34%), with synergistic effects least frequent at only 17%. This means that addressing either microplastic pollution or co-occurring stressors individually is likely to produce positive outcomes, rather than both needing to be resolved simultaneously.
Mathematical Analysis on the Effects of Microplastic Pollution and Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs in Aquatic Ecosystem
Researchers developed a mathematical model with time-varying parameters to simulate the combined effects of microplastic pollution and ocean acidification on coral reef ecosystems, finding that the interaction between these stressors can amplify ecological damage beyond what either factor causes alone.
Combined effects of global warming and microplastic exposure from individual to populational levels of a benthic copepod
This study assessed the combined effects of global warming and microplastic exposure on freshwater and marine organisms across individual and population levels, examining how climate and plastic pollution interact as co-occurring stressors. Results showed that warming conditions modified microplastic toxicity in ways that suggest climate change will alter the ecological risk of plastic pollution in aquatic systems.