ArticleGlobal change biology2019
Microplastic ingestion ubiquitous in marine turtles.
Article in Global change biology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 311 citations in OpenAlex.
- Microplastic Munchies: Exploring Microplastic Trophic Transfer Potential Between Two Key Prey Fish Species and Resident Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Marine Mammal Science · 2026Article
- Review
- Intestinal microplastic debris, flora dysbiosis, and insidious combined hazards across diverse aquatic and terrestrial organisms.Journal of advanced research · 2026Review
- Plastics as disruptors of feeding, digestive physiology, metabolism, and growth in fish and other aquatic ectothermic vertebrates.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Review
- Multiple approaches to meso- and macroplastics and the food habitat of the green turtle,PeerJ · 2026Article
- Article
- Pathology of Free-Living Loggerhead Turtle (Veterinary sciences · 2025Article
- TORPP - Turtles, One Health Research & Plastic Pollution: A multidisciplinary consortium to evaluate the environmental and health impact of Micro/NanoPlastics (MNPs) pollution.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2024Article
- Article
- Spatiotemporal distribution of microplastic debris in the surface beach sediment of the southeastern coast of Bangladesh.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Microplastics in Cetaceans Stranded on the Portuguese Coast.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Is Zooplankton an Entry Point of Microplastics into the Marine Food Web?Environmental science & technology · 2023Article
- Correlative Light, Electron Microscopy and Raman Spectroscopy Workflow To Detect and Observe Microplastic Interactions with Whole Jellyfish.Environmental science & technology · 2023Article
- Environmental and pathological factors affecting the hatching success of the two northernmost loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) nests.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- A Preliminary Report of Plastic Ingestion by Hawksbill and Green Turtles in the Saudi Arabian Red Sea.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- First Assessment of Micro-Litter Ingested by Dolphins, Sea Turtles and Monk Seals Found Stranded along the Coasts of Samos Island, Greece.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Semi-crystalline microplastics in wastewater plant effluents and removal efficiencies of post-treatment filtration systems.Water research X · 2022Article
- Microplastics in aquatic systems, a comprehensive review: origination, accumulation, impact, and removal technologies.RSC advances · 2022Review
- Effects of Human Activity on Markers of Oxidative Stress in the Intestine ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Despite concerns regarding the environmental impacts of microplastics, knowledge of the incidence and levels of synthetic particles in large marine vertebrates is lacking. Here, we utilize an optimized enzymatic digestion methodology, previously developed for zooplankton, to explore whether synthetic particles could be isolated from marine turtle ingesta. We report the presence of synthetic particles in every turtle subjected to investigation (n = 102) which included individuals from all seven species of marine turtle, sampled from three ocean basins (Atlantic [ATL]: n = 30, four species; Mediterranean (MED): n = 56, two species; Pacific (PAC): n = 16, five species). Most particles (n = 811) were fibres (ATL: 77.1% MED: 85.3% PAC: 64.8%) with blue and black being the dominant colours. In lesser quantities were fragments (ATL: 22.9%: MED: 14.7% PAC: 20.2%) and microbeads (4.8%; PAC only; to our knowledge the first isolation of microbeads from marine megavertebrates). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) of a subsample of particles (n = 169) showed a range of synthetic materials such as elastomers (MED: 61.2%; PAC: 3.4%), thermoplastics (ATL: 36.8%: MED: 20.7% PAC: 27.7%) and synthetic regenerated cellulosic fibres (SRCF; ATL: 63.2%: MED: 5.8% PAC: 68.9%). Synthetic particles being isolated from species occupying different trophic levels suggest the possibility of multiple ingestion pathways. These include exposure from polluted seawater and sediments and/or additional trophic transfer from contaminated prey/forage items. We assess the likelihood that microplastic ingestion presents a significant conservation problem at current levels compared to other anthropogenic threats.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.