Microplastic fibers—Underestimated threat to aquatic organisms
Abstract
Awareness of microplastic pollution in aquatic environments increased strongly during the last decade. Environmental monitoring studies detected microplastic items in every tested water body and found them in various aquatic organisms. Yet, many studies conducted so far, refer to microplastic particles and spheres but not fibers. Microplastic fibers are often not considered due to methodological issues and high contamination risk during sampling and analysis. Only a few of the microplastic exposure studies with aquatic organisms were conducted with microplastic fibers. Recent effect studies demonstrated several negative impacts of microplastic fibers on aquatic organisms, which include tissue damage, reduced growth, and body condition and even mortality. Such negative effects were predominantly observed in taxa at the basis of the food chain. Higher taxa were less heavily affected in direct exposure experiments, but they presumably suffer from negative effects on organisms at lower food chain levels in the wild. Consequently, ongoing and future pollution with microplastic fibers may disturb the functioning of aquatic ecosystems. The present review outlines the current state of knowledge on microplastic fiber abundance in nature, bioavailability, and impacts on aquatic animals. Based on these findings, we recommend inclusion of microplastic fibers in prospective monitoring studies, discuss appropriate methods, and propose to conduct exposure studies with - as well as risk assessments of - these underestimated pollutants.
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Polyester microplastic fibers are one of the most dominant morphologies and polymer types found in the environment and within organisms.
“We chose to investigate the effects of polyester microplastic fibers because they are one of the most dominant morphologies and polymer types found in the environment (Klasios & Tseng, 2023;Napper et al., 2023) and within organisms (Rebelein et al., 2021).”
From No Effect of Realistic Concentrations of Polyester Microplastic Fibers on Freshwater Zooplankton Communities (2024) · cites this paper as Rebelein et al., 2021
Polyester microplastic fibers are one of the most commonly reported microplastic types documented in environments.
“Polyester microplastic fibers, often sourced from synthetic textiles, are one of the most commonly reported microplastic types documented in environments (Burns & Boxall, 2018;Hernandez et al., 2017;Rebelein et al., 2021).”
From No Effect of Realistic Concentrations of Polyester Microplastic Fibers on Freshwater Zooplankton Communities (2024) · cites this paper as Rebelein et al., 2021
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Detection of low numbers of microplastics in North Sea fish using strict quality assurance criteria.
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Microplastics in Fish and Shellfish – A Threat to Seafood Safety?
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Microplastics in lakes and rivers: An issue of emerging significance to limnology
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Effects of polyester fibers and car tire particles on freshwater invertebrates
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Klasios, N., Kim, J. O., & Tseng, M. (2024) · Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry · doi:10.1002/etc.5797 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
“We chose to investigate the effects of polyester microplastic fi bers because they are one of the most dominant morphologies and polymer types found in the environment (Klasios & Tseng, 2023; Napper et al., 2023) and within organisms (Rebelein et al., 2021).”
BackgroundMiller, M. E., Santana, M. F. M., Carsique, M., Motti, C. A., Hamann, M., & Kroon, F. J. (2022) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119545 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
- Authors
- Rebelein, A., Int-Veen, I., Kammann, U., & Scharsack, J. P.
- Affiliations
- Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Rebelein, Anja
- Venue
- Science of The Total Environment
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-07
- Volume
- 777
- Pages
- 146045
- ISSN
- 0048-9697 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3135815978
- Cited by
- 338
- References
- 166
- Citations by year
- 2026: 43 · 2025: 69 · 2024: 78 · 2023: 64 · 2022: 66 · 2021: 18
- FWCI
- 2.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- The Science of The Total Environment (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- OpenAgrar (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung (2819108816)
- Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Environmental Toxicology and Ecotoxicology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Keywords
- microplastic fibers, aquatic organisms, microplastic pollution, bioavailability, ecotoxicological effects, food chain, microplastic monitoring, sample contamination, risk assessment, aquatic ecosystems
- MeSH terms
- Microplastics, Animals, Environmental Monitoring, Plastics, Prospective Studies, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Ecosystem, Aquatic Organisms
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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