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Updated: Jun 4, 2025

Ecotoxicological Effects of Microplastics on Bird Embryo Development by Hatching without Eggshell
Published on: August 14, 2021
Ecological effects of micro/nanoplastics on plant-associated food webs
Muhammad Ilyas1, Carlos M Duarte2, Elvis Genbo Xu3
1State Key Laboratory of Plant Diversity and Specialty Crops, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Yunnan, 666303, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Abstract:
Micro/nanoplastics (MNPs) contamination is a potential threat to global biodiversity and ecosystem functions, with unclear ecological impacts on aboveground (AG) and belowground (BG) food webs in terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we discuss the uptake, ingestion, bioaccumulation, and ecotoxicological effects of MNPs in plants and associated AG-BG biota at various trophic levels. We propose key pathways for MNPs transfer between the AG-BG food webs and elaborate their impact on terrestrial ecosystem multifunctionality. We conclude that MNPs are bioaccumulated in most studied plants and associated AG-BG biota and can be transferred along AG-BG food webs, which may profoundly impact ecosystem functioning. However, most pathways are still untested. Future research on MNPs should focus on the interactions within AG-BG food webs in terrestrial ecosystems.
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