Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33883554›Full record

ArticleNature communications2021

Zooplankton grazing of microplastic can accelerate global loss of ocean oxygen.

K Kvale, A E F Prowe, C-T Chien, A Landolfi, A Oschlies

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. 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 · 2025
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  5. Article
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  7. Review
  8. Review
  9. Would the Oceans Become Toxic to Humanity Due to Use and Mismanagement of Plastics?International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024
    Article
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  11. Article
  12. Article
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  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

K KvaleGEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, West shore campus, Kiel, Germany. kkvale@geomar.de.ORCID 0000-0001-8043-5431
A E F ProweGEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, West shore campus, Kiel, Germany.
C-T ChienGEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, West shore campus, Kiel, Germany.
A LandolfiGEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, West shore campus, Kiel, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-5000-7863
A OschliesGEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, West shore campus, Kiel, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-8295-4013

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Global warming has driven a loss of dissolved oxygen in the ocean in recent decades. We demonstrate the potential for an additional anthropogenic driver of deoxygenation, in which zooplankton consumption of microplastic reduces the grazing on primary producers. In regions where primary production is not limited by macronutrient availability, the reduction of grazing pressure on primary producers causes export production to increase. Consequently, organic particle remineralisation in these regions increases. Employing a comprehensive Earth system model of intermediate complexity, we estimate this additional remineralisation could decrease water column oxygen inventory by as much as 10% in the North Pacific and accelerate global oxygen inventory loss by an extra 0.2-0.5% relative to 1960 values by the year 2020. Although significant uncertainty accompanies these estimates, the potential for physical pollution to have a globally significant biogeochemical signal that exacerbates the consequences of climate warming is a novel feedback not yet considered in climate research.

Indexed as

Global WarmingModels, BiologicalAnimalsComputer SimulationEcosystemMicroplasticsOceans and SeasOxygenSeawaterWater Pollutants, ChemicalZooplanktonMicroplasticsOxygenWater Pollutants, Chemical

Identifiers

PMID33883554
PMCPMC8060285

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.