Estimating the size distribution of plastics ingested by animals
Open accessAbstract
The ingestion of plastics appears to be widespread throughout the animal kingdom with risks to individuals, ecosystems and human health. Despite growing information on the location, abundance and size distribution of plastics in the environment, it cannot be assumed that any given animal will ingest all sizes of plastic encountered. Here, we use published data to develop an allometric relationship between plastic consumption and animal size to estimate the size distribution of plastics feasibly ingested by animals. Based on more than 2000 gut content analyses from animals ranging over three orders of magnitude in size (lengths 9 mm to 10 m), body length alone accounts for 42% of the variance in the length of plastic an animal may ingest and indicates a size ratio of roughly 20:1 between animal body length and the largest plastic the animal may ingest. We expect this work to improve global assessments of plastic pollution risk by introducing a quantifiable link between animals and the plastics they can ingest.
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PMD is ingested by several marine organisms, including commercially important species.
“PMD is also ingested by several marine organisms, including commercially important species.18,19,[87][88][89][90]”
From The fate of plastic in the ocean environment – a minireview (2021) · cites this paper as [89]
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Micro- and Nanoplastics’ Effects on Protein Folding and Amyloidosis
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“More recent work has found that gastrointestinal absorption of MNPs also occurs in wild animals [29].”
BackgroundBeyond Microbial Biodegradation: Plastic Degradation by Galleria mellonella
Boschi, A., Scieuzo, C., Salvia, R., Arias, C. F., Pérez, R. P., Bertocchini, F., & Falabella, P. (2023) · Journal of Polymers and the Environment · doi:10.1007/s10924-023-03084-6 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Density and composition of surface and buried plastic debris in beaches of Senegal
Tavares, D. C., de Moura, J. F., Ceesay, A., & Merico, A. (2020) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139633 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Microplastic bioaccumulation in estuary-caught fishery resource
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The extended avian urban phenotype: Anthropogenic solid waste pollution, nest design and fitness.
Jagiello, Z. A., Corsini, M., Dylewski, Ł., Ibáñez-Álamo, J. D., & Szulkin, M. (2022) · Science of the Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156034 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
“In this context, while a growing number of studies investigated the impact of plastic pollution on marine ecosystems, little is known about the effects of plastic pollution inland, where it is mainly produced (Jâms et al., 2020; MacLeod et al., 2021).”
BackgroundA Review of Sources, Hazards, and Removal Methods of Microplastics in the Environment
Meng, X., Yuan, J., Huang, Q., Liu, R., Yang, Y., Yang, X., & Wang, K. (2025) · Water · doi:10.3390/w17010102 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
“The contamination of drinking water source areas by microplastics represents a signi fi cant global environmental issue [115,116].”
Pan, C., Mintenig, S. M., Redondo‐Hasselerharm, P. E., Neijenhuis, P. H. M. W., Yu, K., Wang, Y., & Koelmans, A. A. (2021) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.1c03119 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
“Because of its ubiquity and potential adverse effects on organisms, pollution with microplastic (MP, particles with a size between 1 μm and 5 mm) has been recognized as an issue of global concern.1−5 Investigation of MP has mainly focused on the qualification and quantification of MP in water, sediment, and fish sampl…”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialAssociation between blood microplastic levels and severity of extracranial artery stenosis
Yu, H., Li, H., Cui, C., Han, Y., Xiao, Y., Zhang, B., & Li, G. (2024) · Journal of Hazardous Materials · doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.136211 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Freshwater wild biota exposure to microplastics: A global perspective
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Pinheiro, L. M., Britz, L. M. K., Agostini, V. O., Parada, A. P., García‐Rodríguez, F., Galloway, T. S., & Pinho, G. L. L. (2022) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156077 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Riverine microplastics and their interaction with freshwater fish
Sulaiman, B., Woodward, J. C., & Shiels, H. A. (2023) · Water Biology and Security · doi:10.1016/j.watbs.2023.100192 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Exploring the ecotoxicological impacts of microplastics on freshwater fish: A critical review
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Prevalence of microplastics and anthropogenic debris within a deep-sea food web
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“This general trend for increasing body size and microplastic ingestion is not yet well examined in the literature, but large-scale meta-analyses suggest that body length accounts for much of the variance in the length of plastic particles that animals ingest (Jâms et al. 2020).”
ResultFirst record of microplastic occurence at the commercial fish from Orontes River
Kılıç, E., Yücel, N., & Şahutoğlu, S. M. (2022) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119576 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
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Roman, L., Hardesty, B. D., & Schuyler, Q. A. (2022) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156858 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Lofty, J., Ouro, P., & Wilson, C. (2022) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160893 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Tuttle, E. E., Wiman, C., Muñoz, S., Law, K., & Stubbins, A. (2024) · Environmental Science and Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.3c07161 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Microplastics in freshwater: Unveiling sources, fate, and removal strategies
Upadhyay, S., Sharma, P. K., Dogra, K., Bhattacharya, P., Kumar, M., Tripathi, V. S., & Karmakar, R. (2024) · Groundwater for Sustainable Development · doi:10.1016/j.gsd.2024.101185 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Ingestion of Microplastics by Marine Animals
Courtene‐Jones, W., Clark, N. J., Fischer, A. C., Smith, N. S., & Thompson, R. C. (2022) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781119768432.ch12 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
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Seasonal pulse effect of microplastics in the river catchment-From tributary catchment to mainstream
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Behaviour, ecological impacts of microplastics and cadmium on soil systems: A systematic review
Li, F., Yang, X., Zhang, Z., Jiang, Y., & Gong, Y. (2024) · Environmental Technology & Innovation · doi:10.1016/j.eti.2024.103637 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Feng, J., Zhao, H., Gong, X., Xia, M.-C., Cai, L., Yao, H., Zhao, X., Yan, Z., Li, Z., Nie, H., et al. (2021) · Analytical Chemistry · doi:10.1021/acs.analchem.0c05383 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Occurrence and characterization of microplastic content in the digestive system of riverine fishes
Heshmati, S., Makhdoumi, P., Pirsaheb, M., Hossini, H., Ahmadi, S., & Fattahi, H. (2021) · Journal of Environmental Management · doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113620 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Buwono, N. R., Risjani, Y., & Soegianto, A. (2022) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119958 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Lu, X., Zhang, L., Zhang, J., Wang, C., & Zhang, A. (2022) · ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces · doi:10.1021/acsami.2c11875 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
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Yu, C., Takhistov, P., Alocilja, E. C., Reyes-De-Corcuera, J. I., Frey, M. W., Gomes, C. L., Mao, Y., McLamore, E. S., Lin, M., Tsyusko, O. V., et al. (2022) · Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry · doi:10.1007/s00216-022-04069-5 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
“The size distribution of plastics ingested by animals was modeled based on more than 2000 gut content analyses [102].”
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Life on bottles: Colonisation of macroplastics by freshwater biota
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Microplastic ingestion by coral as a function of the interaction between calyx and microplastic size
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Do flushed biodegradable wet wipes really degrade?
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“Moreover, additive contaminants can also adsorb onto cellulose fi bres in the environment, resulting in similar issues (Jâms et al., 2020; Adams et al., 2021).”
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Ecological risk assessment of marine plastic pollution
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“An approximate 20:1 ratio exists between the body length of an organism and the maximum ingestible plastic diameter 11 .”
InfluentialCurrent efforts on microplastic monitoring in Arctic fish and how to proceed
Kögel, T., Hamilton, B. M., Granberg, M., Provencher, J. F., Hammer, S., Gomiero, A., Magnusson, K., & Lusher, A. (2022) · Arctic Science · doi:10.1139/as-2021-0057 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
- Authors
- Jâms, I. B., Windsor, F. M., Poudevigne-Durance, T., Ormerod, S. J., & Durance, I.
- Affiliations
- Cardiff University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Durance, Isabelle
- Venue
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2020-03-27
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1594-1594
- ISSN
- 2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7101383
- OpenAlex
- W3013106828
- Cited by
- 223
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 39 · 2022: 50 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 13
- FWCI
- 8.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Newcastle University ePrints (Newcastle Univesity) (cc-by)
- Funders
- Natural Environment Research Council (1642617, NE/L002434/, L002434)
- 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 › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Turtle Biology and Conservation
- Keywords
- plastic ingestion, allometric relationships, animal body size, gut content analysis, marine fauna, microplastics
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Eating, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Pollution, Fishes, Particle Size, Plastics, Zooplankton, Ecosystem, Body Size
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