Effect of microplastics on ecosystem functioning: Microbial nitrogen removal mediated by benthic invertebrates

Impacts of Plastic Pollution on Ecosystem Services, Sustainable Development Goals, and Need to Focus on Circular Economy and Policy Interventions

“…Current knowledge gaps are highlighted due to the impact of MPs and NPs pollution on ecosystem services, which are directly concerned with ecosystems and their functionality. A comprehensive approach requires balancing human well-being with nature's services; although it is one of the basic essences behind the development of ecosystem services, it has yet to be investigated despite being emphasized in the late 1990s [140,[148][149][150][151]. In this section, emphasis is given to connect the dots among the micro or nano plastics, ecosystem services, and human well-being; we do not delve into the fundamentals of the functionality of the natural systems, which is already available in various literature [44,48,152,153].…”

“…MPs and NPs in terrestrial ecosystems reduce the ability to sequester carbon, which is one of the major ecosystem services provided by the soil ecosystem to maintain the carbon cycle [152,153,156]. As MPs are an organic carbon (around ~80%), no significant methods have been developed yet to distinguish soil organic carbon and MPs carbon, and as MPs come in contact with the soil matrix, it forms the MPs cycle (i.e., slow MPs/NPs A comprehensive approach requires balancing human well-being with nature's services; although it is one of the basic essences behind the development of ecosystem services, it has yet to be investigated despite being emphasized in the late 1990s [140,[148][149][150][151]. In this section, emphasis is given to connect the dots among the micro or nano plastics, ecosystem services, and human well-being; we do not delve into the fundamentals of the functionality of the natural systems, which is already available in various literature [44,48,152,153].…”

“…MPs and NPs act as vectors for toxic chemicals and microbes and can breach any ecosystem. Thus, these invasive microorganisms lead to change in the community structure, loss of local biodiversity, and other ecological catastrophes [149,168]. Since MPs and NPs are already established to act as a vector and breach through any system (organisms) and even via trophic transfer (one trophic level to another via food chain), therefore, it can be hypothesized that MPs in the future can play a pivotal role in the spill over of infectious diseases, leading to an epidemic or pandemic of unknown scale [44,148,152,169].…”

“…On a larger scale, hindering pollination will lead to a decrease in seed banks; the worst affected species might be endemic or rare ones with limited viable seed banks, because, to a large extent, pollination is more prone to local extinction [170]. Since MPs and NPs are abundant in the tropical region, which is coincidentally the most diverse region with a high number of endemic and rare plant species, therefore, hypothetically, MPs and NPs pose a serious threat to the plant diversity in the tropics [48,137,149]. Similar to other pollutants, humans inhale MPs; therefore, the continuous inhalation of MPs leads to serious health concerns including lung congestion, cancer, ulcers, and several other nasal and olfactory infections [164].…”

A Mini-Review of Strategies for Quantifying Anthropogenic Activities in Microplastic Studies in Aquatic Environments

“…Furthermore, indirect impacts of microplastic pollution on organisms also occur. These detrimental effects are not caused by the ingestion of microplastics per se but include the alteration of gut microbiota [ 22 ], induction of microbiota dysbiosis [ 23 ], ecosystem functioning change [ 24 ], behavioral change [ 25 ], and locomotion interruption [ 26 ]. Plastisphere, a term denoting the microbiome of microplastics, has raised global concern because its community structures are distinct from the natural environment.…”