Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

The impacts of synthetic and cellulose-based fibres and their associated dyes on fish hosts and parasite health

Researchers tested the effects of polyester, cotton, and bamboo clothing fibers on freshwater fish and their parasites. The study found that polyester exposure was associated with significantly higher fish mortality, while bamboo fibers appeared to confer some resistance against parasites. Evidence indicates that synthetic microplastic fibers and their associated chemical dyes can be harmful to aquatic organisms, highlighting the need for greater transparency from textile industries about dye composition.

2023 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Analysis of bamboo fibres and their associated dye in the parasite-host dynamics of freshwater fish

Bamboo-derived textile fibers — often marketed as eco-friendly alternatives to synthetic plastics — were tested for effects on guppy fish health and disease resistance over a three-week exposure period. While the fibers did not significantly change infection outcomes or survival, they did alter fish metabolism in measurable ways, suggesting that even "natural" textile fibers can have subtle biological effects and that greenwashing claims deserve more scrutiny.

2023
Article Tier 2

Analysis of bamboo fibres and their associated dye on a freshwater fish host-parasite system

Researchers assessed the health effects of bamboo-viscose and bamboo-elastane textile fibers and their associated dye on a freshwater fish host-parasite system. The study found that even fibers marketed as biodegradable and environmentally friendly can impact fish health, suggesting that organic textile fibers may not be the benign alternative to synthetic microplastics that marketing claims imply.

2024 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Direct and indirect ecological impacts of microplastic fibers on host-parasite and host-microbiota interactions

Researchers experimentally tested how polyester microplastic fibers of two sizes affect trematode parasite infection rates and gut microbiome composition in leopard frog tadpoles. Microplastic fibers altered both host-parasite dynamics and microbiota structure in size-dependent ways, demonstrating that plastic fiber pollution has cascading effects on freshwater ecological interactions.

2025 Aquatic Toxicology
Article Tier 2

Effects of Polyester Microplastic Fiber Contamination on Amphibian–Trematode Interactions

This study tested how polyester microplastic fibers affect amphibian-trematode interactions, finding that fibers can reduce parasite survival but also alter amphibian immune function in ways that complicate infection outcomes, suggesting microplastics could disrupt host-parasite dynamics.

2021 Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 36 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic exposure and consumption increases susceptibility to gyrodactylosis and host mortality for a freshwater fish

Researchers found that guppies exposed to polypropylene microplastics at environmentally relevant concentrations showed significantly higher parasite burdens and increased mortality from gyrodactylid infections, demonstrating that microplastics can compromise disease resistance in fish.

2023 Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics modulate the outcome of a zooplankton–microparasite interaction

Researchers found that nanoplastics can alter the outcome of zooplankton-microparasite interactions, demonstrating that plastic pollution at the nanoscale may disrupt host-parasite dynamics in freshwater ecosystems with cascading ecological effects.

2023 Freshwater Biology 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic and Organic Fibres in Feeding, Growth and Mortality of Gammarus pulex

Researchers found that microplastic fibres and organic fibres (cotton and wool) had measurable effects on the feeding, growth, and mortality of the freshwater crustacean Gammarus pulex, with both fibre types posing ecological risks in aquatic environments.

2021 Environments 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Less impact than suspected: Dietary exposure of three-spined sticklebacks to microplastic fibers does not affect their body condition and immune parameters

Researchers found that dietary exposure to polyester microplastic fibers at environmentally relevant and elevated concentrations had no significant effects on growth, body condition, or immune parameters of three-spined sticklebacks over nine weeks.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Trophically Transmitted Parasites and Their Responses to Microbial Pathogens and Consumed Plastic Contaminants

Researchers reviewed how trophically transmitted parasites respond to stressors including microplastic contaminants and microbial pathogens, finding that plastic exposure can disrupt host-parasite dynamics by altering host microbiomes and immune responses. The interactions add complexity to understanding parasite infection success in polluted environments.

2024 Infectious diseases
Article Tier 2

Synergistic effects of koi herpesvirus infection and nanoplastic exposure on the physiological and immune responses of koi carp

Researchers exposed koi carp to polystyrene nanoplastics and koi herpesvirus simultaneously and found that nanoplastic exposure enhanced viral replication by 3–5-fold at the protein level and 8–10-fold at the gene expression level, suggesting nanoplastic pollution can increase susceptibility to viral disease in fish.

2025 Fish & Shellfish Immunology
Article Tier 2

Impact of polyester and cotton microfibers on growth and sublethal biomarkers in juvenile mussels

Researchers exposed juvenile mussels to polyester and cotton microfibers at realistic ocean concentrations for 94 days and found that polyester microfibers reduced mussel growth rates by up to 36%, suggesting that microplastic fiber pollution could harm marine ecosystems and threaten shellfish aquaculture.

2023 Microplastics and Nanoplastics 39 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics and nanoplastics on host–parasite interactions in aquatic environments

Researchers reviewed how microplastics and nanoplastics affect the interactions between parasites and their hosts in aquatic environments. Evidence indicates that plastic particles can influence infection rates, parasite transmission, and host immune responses, though the effects vary widely depending on the species and type of plastic involved.

2024 Oecologia 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Size Matters: The Effects of Polystyrene Nanoplastics on Parasite Transmission in the Daphnia‐Metschnikowia Host–Parasite System

Researchers investigated how polystyrene nanoplastic size affects parasite transmission between aquatic hosts, finding that nanoplastic size influenced infection dynamics by altering host behavior, immune function, or parasite infectivity. Smaller nanoplastics had more pronounced effects on parasite transmission success.

2024 Freshwater Biology 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Influence of trophic overlaps and trophic niche amplitude on microplastic intake of fish species in shallow areas of a neotropical coastal lagoon

Researchers analyzed microplastic ingestion in six fish species from a coastal lagoon in Brazil and found that species sharing the same food sources tended to ingest similar amounts of microplastic fibers. Blue polyester fibers smaller than 0.05 mm were the most common type found, likely from textile pollution. Since fish dietary habits determine their microplastic intake, this affects which fish species accumulate more plastic particles and what ultimately ends up on people's plates.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 17 citations
Article Tier 2

No Effect of Realistic Concentrations of Polyester Microplastic Fibers on Freshwater Zooplankton Communities

Researchers tested whether realistic concentrations of polyester microplastic fibers affect freshwater zooplankton communities in experimental settings. The study found no significant effects on zooplankton abundance, diversity, or community structure at environmentally relevant concentrations, suggesting that current levels of fiber pollution may not substantially impact these organisms.

2023 Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics exacerbate virus-mediated mortality in fish

Researchers discovered that microplastics can significantly worsen virus-related mortality in fish, finding that salmonids co-exposed to a virus and microplastics, particularly microfibers, died at higher rates than fish exposed to the virus alone. Natural non-plastic microparticles did not produce the same effect, indicating a plastic-specific interaction. The study presents evidence that microplastic pollution may amplify the impacts of infectious disease in aquatic populations.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 58 citations
Article Tier 2

Exposure to Cotton and Polyester Microfibers Leads to Different Fatty Acid Profiles and Chemical Contaminants (PBDE) Concentrations in Juvenile Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

Fish exposed to cotton versus polyester microfibers showed distinct fatty acid profiles and different patterns of chemical bioaccumulation, suggesting that fiber type matters for both metabolic and toxicological outcomes. Polyester microfibers acted as a more effective vector for persistent organic pollutants than cotton fibers.

2025 Environmental toxicology and chemistry
Article Tier 2

The influence of microplastics on trophic interaction strengths and oviposition preferences of dipterans

Microplastic pollution in freshwater environments was found to alter predator-prey interactions and oviposition site preferences in aquatic dipteran insects, with implications for food web structure. The study highlights that microplastics can have indirect ecological effects by interfering with animal behavior and species interactions beyond direct toxicity.

2018 The Science of The Total Environment 64 citations
Article Tier 2

Can water mites’ parasitism influence the number of microplastics ingested by aquatic insects?

Researchers discovered for the first time that parasitic water mites, which infect aquatic insects, influence how many microplastic particles those insects ingest, with mite-infested insects ingesting more microplastics — a finding that suggests parasites may play an unexpected role in how microplastics move through freshwater food webs.

2024 Applied Water Science 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Realistic microplastics harness bacterial presence and promote impairments in early zebrafish embryos: Behavioral, developmental, and transcriptomic approaches.

Researchers exposed zebrafish embryos to realistic microplastic fragments and fibers from bottles and textiles, both alone and combined with a bacterial pathogen. They found that microplastics adhered to egg surfaces and accelerated hatching, while fragments were more harmful to development than fibers. The study provides new insights into how microplastics interact with environmental pathogens to affect early life stages of aquatic organisms.

2024 Chemosphere 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Consumer and host body size effects on the removal of trematode cercariae by ambient communities

This ecology study found that both predator size and prey size affect how efficiently parasites are removed from water by organisms consuming infected hosts. While focused on parasite ecology rather than microplastics, the framework is relevant to understanding how particle-ingesting organisms remove contamination from aquatic systems.

2018 Parasitology 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics Facilitate Protozoan Pathogen Contamination in Shellfish

Researchers found that microplastics can facilitate the contamination of shellfish with disease-causing parasites including Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and Toxoplasma. Oysters exposed to both protozoan pathogens and polyester microfibers harbored significantly more parasites than those exposed to pathogens alone, suggesting microplastics may serve as vectors that increase pathogen levels in seafood.

2026 Microorganisms
Article Tier 2

Polystyrene nanoplastics differentially influence the outcome of infection by two microparasites of the host Daphnia magna

Researchers exposed the water flea Daphnia magna to two different parasites in the presence of polystyrene nanoplastics. The study found that nanoplastic exposure dramatically increased infection rates by a fungal parasite while having no significant effect on a gut microsporidium, suggesting that nanoplastics can differentially affect host-parasite relationships and potentially favor parasite coexistence in aquatic environments.

2023 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences 15 citations