Department of Botany, Government College Women University, Sialkot, Pakistan.
State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystems, School of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, PR China.
Chemosphere. 2021 Feb;264(Pt 2):128541. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128541. Epub 2020 Oct 7.
Recently, efforts to determine the ecological impacts of microplastic pollutants have increased because of plastic's accelerated contamination of the environment. The tiny size, variable surface topography, thermal properties, bioavailability and biological toxicity of microplastics all offer opportunities for these pollutants to negatively impact the environment. Additionally, various inorganic and organic chemicals sorbed on these particles may pose a greater threat to organisms than the microplastics themselves. However, there is still a big knowledge gap in the assessment of various toxicological effects of microplastics in the environment. Ecological risk assessment of microplastics has become more challenging with the current data gaps. Thus, a current literature review and identification of the areas where research on ecology of microplastics can be extended is necessary. We have provided an overview of various aspects of microplastics by which they interact negatively or positively with marine organisms. We hypothesize that biogeochemical interactions are critical to fully understand the ecological impacts, movement, and fate of microplastics in oceans. As microplastics are now ubiquitous in marine environments and impossible to remove, we recommend that it's not too late to converge research on plastic alternatives. In addition, strict actions should be taken promptly to prevent plastics from entering the environment.
最近，由于塑料加速污染环境，人们越来越努力地研究微塑料污染物对生态的影响。微塑料的微小尺寸、可变的表面形貌、热性能、生物利用度和生物毒性为这些污染物对环境产生负面影响提供了机会。此外，吸附在这些颗粒上的各种无机和有机化学物质可能比微塑料本身对生物构成更大的威胁。然而，在评估环境中微塑料的各种毒理学效应方面，仍然存在很大的知识差距。由于目前的数据差距，微塑料的生态风险评估变得更加具有挑战性。因此，有必要对微塑料生态学的研究进行文献综述和确定可以扩展的领域。我们通过综述微塑料与海洋生物相互作用的各个方面，提供了一个概述。我们假设生物地球化学相互作用对于充分了解海洋中微塑料的生态影响、迁移和命运至关重要。由于微塑料现在在海洋环境中无处不在且无法去除，我们建议现在还来得及集中研究塑料替代品。此外，应迅速采取严格措施防止塑料进入环境。
