ArticleScientific reports2020
Rapid fragmentation of microplastics by the freshwater amphipod Gammarus duebeni (Lillj.).
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 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 177 citations in OpenAlex.
- Concentration of microplastics in bivalves of the environment: a systematic review.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2021Pooled it
- Formation and Transformation of Micro(nano)plastics: Mechanisms and Environmental Health Implications.Environment & health (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Review
- Microplastic Passage through the Fish and Crayfish Digestive Tract Alters Particle Surface Properties.Environmental science & technology · 2025Article
- The Toxicity of Poly(acrylonitrile-styrene-butadiene) Microplastics towardChemical research in toxicology · 2025Article
- Variation in microplastic characteristics among amphibian larvae: a comparative study across different species and the influence of human activity.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- A multimedia model to estimate the environmental fate of microplastic particles.The Science of the total environment · 2023Article
- The Montreal Protocol and the fate of environmental plastic debris.Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology · 2023Article
- Microplastics Derived from Food Packaging Waste-Their Origin and Health Risks.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Quantifying microplastic ingestion, degradation and excretion in insects using fluorescent plastics.Conservation physiology · 2023Article
- Oxidation and fragmentation of plastics in a changing environment; from UV-radiation to biological degradation.The Science of the total environment · 2022Review
- Caddisfly Larvae are a Driver of Plastic Litter Breakdown and Microplastic Formation in Freshwater Environments.Environmental toxicology and chemistry · 2022Article
- Personal protective equipment (PPE) pollution driven by the COVID-19 pandemic along the shoreline of Lake Tana, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.The Science of the total environment · 2022Article
- Interactions Between Plastic, Microbial Biofilms and Gammarus pulex: An Initial Investigation.Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology · 2022Article
- Polyethylene microplastic toxicity to the terrestrial snail Cantareus aspersus: size matters.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2022Article
- Soil Invertebrates Generate Microplastics From Polystyrene Foam Debris.Journal of insect science (Online) · 2022Article
- Plastic biodegradation byFrontiers in microbiology · 2022Review
- Automated μFTIR Imaging Demonstrates Taxon-Specific and Selective Uptake of Microplastic by Freshwater Invertebrates.Environmental science & technology · 2021Article
- Biodegradable carboxymethyl cellulose based material for sustainable packaging application.Scientific reports · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Microplastics have become ubiquitous in all environments. Yet, their environmental fate is still largely unknown. Plastic fragmentation is a key component of plastic degradation, which is mostly caused by abiotic processes over prolonged time scales. Here, it is shown that the freshwater amphipod Gammarus duebeni can rapidly fragment polyethylene microplastics, resulting in the formation of differently shaped and sized plastic fragments, including nanoplastics. Fragments comprised 65.7% of all observed microplastic particles accumulated in digestive tracts. Higher numbers of fragments were found in response to longer exposure times and/or higher microplastic concentrations. Furthermore, the proportion of smaller plastic fragments was highest when food was present during the depuration process. It is concluded that G. duebeni can rapidly fragment polyethylene microplastics and that this is closely associated with the feeding process. These results highlight the crucial role, currently understudied, that biota may play in determining the fate of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems.
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.