Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Observing the Effects of Marine Debris Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification

This study examines how marine debris, particularly microplastics and heavy metals, bioaccumulates and biomagnifies through marine food webs, with organisms ingesting microplastics as they move through ocean currents. The review considers the ecological consequences of microplastic ingestion across trophic levels and the implications for food chain safety as humans sit at the top of the marine food web.

2024 Journal of Student Research
Article Tier 2

Environmental Contamination and Food Chain Bioaccumulation

This review examines how environmental contaminants, including heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, and emerging pollutants like micro- and nanoplastics, accumulate through food chains via bioaccumulation and biomagnification. Researchers describe the diverse pathways by which these contaminants enter ecosystems from agricultural runoff, industrial discharge, and waste disposal. The study underscores that continuous human exposure to bioaccumulated toxins may contribute to chronic health concerns.

2025 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in the Food Chain

This review documents microplastic presence throughout the food trophic chain, examining how plastics enter food webs, accumulate with biomagnification, and affect organisms at each trophic level including humans who are at the top of the chain.

2022 Microplastics 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Describing the Accumulation, Concentration, and Amplification Effects of MPs Through the Food Chain

This review examines evidence for microplastic accumulation, concentration, and amplification through food chains from primary producers to predators. The authors discuss the degree to which trophic transfer leads to biomagnification of plastic particles and co-adsorbed chemical contaminants, with implications for wildlife and human dietary exposure.

2024 Current Nutrition & Food Science 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification (The Subtle Processes that Question our Survival)

This review synthesizes mechanisms of bioaccumulation and biomagnification in aquatic ecosystems, examining how heavy metals, microplastics, and other toxicants concentrate up food chains and pose escalating risks to ecological balance and human health.

2025 International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
Article Tier 2

Trophic transfer of microplastics and mixed contaminants in the marine food web and implications for human health

This review examines how microplastics move through marine food webs via trophic transfer and carry chemical contaminants that can accumulate in higher predators, including humans. Researchers found that microplastics readily sorb pollutants from surrounding waters and release them after being ingested by organisms, potentially amplifying toxic effects at each level of the food chain. The study underscores the need for more research on bioaccumulation factors and the implications of seafood-mediated microplastic exposure for human health.

2018 Environment International 1310 citations
Article Tier 2

How microplastics interact with food chain: a short overview of fate and impacts

This review examines how microplastics move through the food chain, from water and soil into plants and animals, and ultimately into human food. Microplastics become more dangerous when they absorb toxic chemicals from the environment, and they accumulate in organisms because they take longer to pass through the body than to be consumed. The review highlights that microplastic bioaccumulation through the food web is a direct pathway for human exposure.

2023 Journal of Food Science and Technology 98 citations
Article Tier 2

Aquatic Ecosystem Toxicity and Food Chain

This review examines how toxic substances including heavy metals, nutrients causing algal blooms, and microplastics accumulate in aquatic food chains. Researchers describe how pollutants absorbed by bottom-dwelling organisms can concentrate as they move up through the food web to fish and eventually to humans. The study also discusses emerging remediation approaches using plants and animals to help reduce toxicity in contaminated aquatic ecosystems.

2024 8 citations
Article Tier 2

A Summary of the Transporting Mechanism of Microplastics in Marine Food Chain and its Effects to Humans

This review summarized how microplastics are transported through marine food chains from plankton to fish to humans, detailing toxic effects at each trophic level and outlining mitigation strategies to reduce ecological and human health risks from oceanic plastic pollution.

2022 IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Trophic transfer of microplastics and mixed contaminants in the marine food web and implications for human health

This review examines how microplastics and the chemicals they carry transfer through marine food webs from lower to higher trophic levels, and what this means for human health given that people consume marine fish and seafood. It identifies microplastics as a vector for bioaccumulation of persistent organic pollutants in ways that ultimately reach humans.

2018 OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints)
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Contamination in the Marine Food Web

This review examines the contamination of the marine food web by microplastics, tracing the pathways by which plastic particles enter and move through trophic levels from primary producers to top consumers including marine mammals and humans, and summarizing evidence for toxicological effects and human exposure through seafood consumption.

2022 1 citations
Meta Analysis Tier 1

Bioaccumulation and biomagnification of microplastics in marine organisms: A review and meta-analysis of current data

This meta-analysis reviews current evidence on whether microplastics accumulate and concentrate as they move up the marine food chain. The findings have direct implications for seafood safety, since biomagnification would mean that larger predatory fish consumed by humans could contain higher concentrations of microplastics and their associated chemical additives.

2020 PLoS ONE 571 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in the Food Chain

This review summarizes evidence for microplastic entry and accumulation throughout the food chain, from environmental sources through plant uptake, invertebrate ingestion, fish accumulation, and ultimately human consumption. The authors highlight the food chain as a critical pathway connecting environmental plastic pollution to direct human exposure.

2022 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Trophic transfer of microplastics in zooplanktons towards its speculations on human health: A review

This review examines how microplastics move through the ocean food chain, from tiny zooplankton at the base up through fish to humans, and what health effects may result. Trophic transfer means microplastics can concentrate as they move up the food web, increasing human dietary exposure.

2019 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Trophic Transfer and Accumulation of Microplastics in Freshwater Ecosystem: Risk to Food Security and Human Health

This review examined the trophic transfer and accumulation of microplastics through freshwater food chains, highlighting the risks to food security and human health as plastic particles biomagnify from lower to higher trophic levels.

2022 International Journal of Ecology 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and associated contaminants in the aquatic environment: A review on their ecotoxicological effects, trophic transfer, and potential impacts to human health

This review examines how microplastics and the chemical contaminants they carry move through aquatic food chains from small organisms up to larger predators. Researchers found that microplastics can transfer toxic additives and absorbed pollutants to organisms that ingest them, with potential implications for seafood safety and ultimately human health.

2020 Journal of Hazardous Materials 727 citations
Article Tier 2

The Impact of Microplastic Bioaccumulation on Marine Ecosystems

This review examined the bioaccumulation of microplastics in marine ecosystems, tracing MP uptake from zooplankton to fish to marine mammals and discussing the ecological disruptions caused by plastic accumulation across food webs. It called for integrated solutions addressing MP pollution at both the source and ecosystem levels.

2024 Theoretical and Natural Science
Article Tier 2

Plastic Peril

This review examines the skyrocketing global plastic production and the resulting accumulation of microplastics that adversely affect terrestrial and aquatic organisms through bioaccumulation and biomagnification. The authors assess evidence for microplastic effects across trophic levels including in edible aquatic organisms, highlighting the food chain risks from plastic pollution.

2024
Article Tier 2

Microplastics (MPs) in marine food chains: Is it a food safety issue?

This review examined the presence and transfer of microplastics through marine food chains, assessing food safety risks from contaminated seafood and highlighting the ability of microplastics to sorb and leach chemical contaminants that may impact human health.

2022 Advances in food and nutrition research 20 citations
Article Tier 2

From ocean to table: marine contaminants and their risks to human health and biodiversity

This review synthesized current knowledge on marine pollutants—including microplastics, heavy metals, POPs, and pathogenic microorganisms—their ocean transport pathways, trophic transfer up food chains, and risks to human health through seafood consumption. The authors found that plastic-associated chemical contaminants are now detectable in commercially important seafood species globally, with implications for food safety regulations.

2025 Marine Pollution Bulletin
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: understanding the interaction with the food web and potential health hazards

This review traces how microplastics move through aquatic food webs, from tiny filter-feeding organisms up to predatory fish, and ultimately to humans who consume seafood. Evidence indicates that microplastics can accumulate and concentrate at each level of the food chain, carrying toxic chemicals that may cause inflammation and hormone disruption. The authors stress the need for more research to understand these pathways and develop strategies to reduce microplastic contamination in food.

2025 Journal of Environmental Engineering and Science 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Selenium toxicity in fishes: A current perspective

This review examines how selenium, a naturally occurring element released by mining and industrial activity, builds up in fish to toxic levels and damages their reproduction, growth, and organ function. While the study focuses on fish toxicity rather than microplastics, it illustrates how environmental pollutants bioaccumulate through aquatic food chains and can ultimately reach humans who consume contaminated seafood.

2024 Chemosphere 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and Their Impacts on Organisms and Trophic Chains

This review synthesizes current knowledge on microplastic pollution, examining the mechanisms by which microplastics affect organisms at multiple levels of biological organization and how plastic particles transfer through trophic chains, accumulating and potentially magnifying in concentration up the food web. Researchers highlight evidence for physical, chemical, and microbial impacts on organisms ranging from invertebrates to mammals, including humans, and identify priority areas for future ecotoxicological research.

2022 Water 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Trophic transfer of microplastics and mixed contaminants in the marine food web and implications for human health

This review examines how microplastics act as vectors for chemical contaminants through marine food webs, discussing the factors influencing ingestion, the biological impacts of sorbed chemicals, and evidence for trophic transfer across multiple trophic levels. Researchers highlight that existing lab studies use unrealistically high concentrations and that no study has yet tracked microplastic-contaminant transfer from seafood to humans.

2018 35 citations