Marine Microplastics Food Chain Review

I am compiling a literature review on how microplastics move through the marine food chain and ultimately reach the fish and seafood that people eat. The review must stay tightly focused on the biological and ecological effects of these particles once they enter commercially important species.

Scope
• Survey peer-reviewed papers from the past 10 years (earlier landmark studies may be included where unavoidable).
• Map the pathways: ingestion by lower-trophic organisms, bioaccumulation, trophic transfer, and final residue levels in edible tissues.
• Analyse documented physiological impacts on the fish themselves and any reported implications for human health.
• Highlight knowledge gaps and propose avenues for further research or mitigation work.

Deliverables
1. A 3,000-4,000-word narrative review, structured with abstract, introduction, methods (search strategy & databases used), results/discussion, conclusion, and references.
2. An annotated bibliography spreadsheet listing each study’s citation, species studied, location, key findings, and sample size.
3. Figures or tables summarising concentration ranges and observed effects (created in Excel or similar).

Acceptance criteria
• Minimum of 40 primary sources, predominantly from 2014-2024.
• Citations formatted in APA 7.
• No AI-generated text; I will run plagiarism and GPT-detection checks.
• Submission in both Word and PDF.

Useful keywords I expect to see woven naturally into the text include: microplastic ingestion, trophic transfer, nanoplastics, bioaccumulation, seafood safety, polymer types, and physiological stress markers.

If you have a solid background in marine biology, environmental toxicology, or related STEM fields and can deliver a concise yet comprehensive synthesis, I would love to work with you.