ArticleScientific reports2020
Fragmentation of plastic objects in a laboratory seawater microcosm.
Article in Scientific reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 216 citations in OpenAlex.
- Marine bacteria and fungi: the hidden treasure of oceans in the biodegradation of microplastics and hydrocarbons integrated with omics technologies.Archives of toxicology · 2026Review
- Nanoplastic detection and quantification in high-altitude glacial snow samples from Italy, Switzerland and France.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Yeast-Mediated Plastic Biodegradation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- From Enrichment to Fate: Transport, Transformation, and Fate of Micro- and Nanoplastics in Marine Environments.Toxics · 2026Review
- Review
- Simulated environmental weathering of expanded polystyrene foam and polypropylene under UV and wave agitation.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Coupling fragmentation to a size-selective sedimentation model can quantify the long-term fate of buoyant plastics in the ocean.Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2025Article
- The role and significance of graphene oxide in the remediation of micro- and nanoplastics from the environment.RSC advances · 2025Review
- Investigating metal distribution patterns in pristine and ocean-weathered plastics using LA-ICP-TOFMS.Journal of analytical atomic spectrometry · 2025Article
- A Cytochrome P450 Facilitates Polyethylene Metabolism in a Microbial Community.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Evaluating the environmental impact of cleaning the North Pacific Garbage Patch.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Modeling the Vertical Transport of Copepod Fecal Particles under Nano/Microplastic Exposure.Environmental science & technology · 2025Article
- Long-Term Changes in the Abundance, Size, and Morphotype of Marine Plastics in the North Pacific.Environmental science & technology · 2025Article
- Modeling marine microplastic emissions in Life Cycle Assessment: characterization factors for biodegradable polymers and their application in a textile case study.Frontiers in toxicology · 2025Article
- Influence of cephalexin on cadmium adsorption onto microplastic particles in water: Human health risk evaluation.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Polyester biodegradability: importance and potential for optimisation.Green chemistry : an international journal and green chemistry resource : GC · 2024Review
- Microorganism-mediated biodegradation for effective management and/or removal of micro-plastics from the environment: a comprehensive review.Archives of microbiology · 2024Review
- Microplastic fragmentation by rotifers in aquatic ecosystems contributes to global nanoplastic pollution.Nature nanotechnology · 2024Article
- Global perspectives on the biodegradation of LDPE in agricultural systems.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Review
- An investigation on the prevalence of microplastic in commercial and open pan salts obtained from Cox's Bazar and Maheshkhali region of Bay of Bengal (Bangladesh).Food science & nutrition · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We studied the fragmentation of conventional thermoplastic and compostable plastic items in a laboratory seawater microcosm. In the microcosm, polyurethane foams, cellulose acetate cigarette filters, and compostable polyester and polylactic acid items readily sank, whereas polyethylene air pouches, latex balloons, polystyrene foams and polypropylene cups remained afloat. Microbial biofilms dominated by Cyanobacteria, Proteobacteria, Planctomycetes and Bacteriodetes grew on the plastics, and caused some of the polyethylene items to sink to the bottom. Electrical resistances (ER) of plastic items decreased as function of time, an indication that seawater had penetrated into microscopic crevices in the plastic that had developed over time. Rate constants for ER decrease in polyethylene items in the microcosm were similar to tensile elongation decrease of polyethylene sheets floating in sea, measured previously by others. Weight loss of plastic items was ≤ 1% per year for polyethylene, polystyrene and polypropylene, 3-5% for latex, polyethylene terephthalate and polyurethane, 15% for cellulose acetate, and 7-27% for polyester and polylactic acid compostable bags. The formation of microplastics observed in the microcosm was responsible for at least part of the weight loss. This study emphasizes the need to obtain experimental data on plastic litter degradation under conditions that are realistic for marine environments.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.