From Evidence to Action: The Emerging Role of Biologists in Addressing Microplastic Pollution

Microplastics (MPs) are no longer an environmental issue confined to the open ocean. Over the past decade, MPs have been detected across almost all environmental compartments on Earth (Ambrosini et al., 2019) and in a wide range of organisms, including humans (Leslie et al., 2022; Braun et al., 2021). Given this ubiquity, MPs now represent one of the most pervasive forms of contamination, extending beyond the disciplinary boundaries in which the issue was first acknowledged. Biologists, in particular, play a critical role in this context by interpreting the mechanisms of exposure, uptake, and biological effects across taxa, thereby linking environmental presence to ecological and human health consequences. Consequently, the central question facing scientists today is no longer whether MPs are present in the environment or in what quantities, but what actions can and should be taken to address and mitigate their impacts.