ArticleNature communications2022
Field measurements reveal exposure risk to microplastic ingestion by filter-feeding megafauna.
Article in Nature communications, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 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
19 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Effects of Microplastics and Additives on Ecosystem Function, Structure, and Signaling.Global change biology · 2026Review
- Intestinal microplastic debris, flora dysbiosis, and insidious combined hazards across diverse aquatic and terrestrial organisms.Journal of advanced research · 2026Review
- Considering ecological traits of fishes to understand microplastic ingestion across Pacific coastal fisheries.PloS one · 2026Article
- Fin Whale as a Sink of Legacy and Emerging Contaminants: First Integrated Chemical Exposomics and Gene Expression Analysis in Cetaceans.Environmental science & technology · 2025Article
- Unseen toxins: Exploring the human health consequences of micro and nanoplastics.Toxicology reports · 2025Review
- MPs Entering Human Circulation through Infusions: A Significant Pathway and Health Concern.Environment & health (Washington, D.C.) · 2025Article
- Microscopic anthropogenic waste ingestion by small terrestrial European passerines: evidence from finch and tit families.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- On the exceedingly long median life span of whales: a model for a better understanding of human longevity?Veterinary research communications · 2025Article
- Occurrence of microplastics in Russell's snapper (Lutjanus russellii) and associated prey species in the Central Gulf of Thailand.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2025Article
- Review
- Audible changes in marine trophic ecology: Baleen whale song tracks foraging conditions in the eastern North Pacific.PloS one · 2025Article
- Multifaceted Aquatic Environmental Differences between Nanoplastics and Microplastics: Behavior and Fate.Environment & health (Washington, D.C.) · 2024Review
- Synergistic Effects of Microplastics and Marine Pollutants on the Destabilization of Lipid Bilayers.The journal of physical chemistry. B · 2024Article
- Diving into the Depths: Uncovering Microplastics in Norwegian Coastal Sediment Cores.Environmental science & technology · 2024Article
- Plastic Fly: WhatInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Article
- The future of whales in our Anthropocene ocean.Science advances · 2023Review
- The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health.Annals of global health · 2023Review
- 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
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Microparticles, such as microplastics and microfibers, are ubiquitous in marine food webs. Filter-feeding megafauna may be at extreme risk of exposure to microplastics, but neither the amount nor pathway of microplastic ingestion are well understood. Here, we combine depth-integrated microplastic data from the California Current Ecosystem with high-resolution foraging measurements from 191 tag deployments on blue, fin, and humpback whales to quantify plastic ingestion rates and routes of exposure. We find that baleen whales predominantly feed at depths of 50-250 m, coinciding with the highest measured microplastic concentrations in the pelagic ecosystem. Nearly all (99%) microplastic ingestion is predicted to occur via trophic transfer. We predict that fish-feeding whales are less exposed to microplastic ingestion than krill-feeding whales. Per day, a krill-obligate blue whale may ingest 10 million pieces of microplastic, while a fish-feeding humpback whale likely ingests 200,000 pieces of microplastic. For species struggling to recover from historical whaling alongside other anthropogenic pressures, our findings suggest that the cumulative impacts of multiple stressors require further attention.
Indexed as
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.