Nature Communications (Apr 2021)

Zooplankton grazing of microplastic can accelerate global loss of ocean oxygen

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

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22554-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Microplastic pollution is a major threat to marine food webs, but the wider ranging impacts on global ocean biogeochemistry are poorly understood. Here the authors use an Earth system model to determine that zooplankton grazing on microplastics could exacerbate trends in ocean oxygen loss.