Microplastic bioavailability could be enhanced by biological
factors. The ingestion of polystyrene (PS) beads (100 nm) by
suspension-feeding bivalve molluscs significantly increased when
they were incorporated into manually-generated aggregates,
formed by rolling natural seawater in the laboratory. The seasonal
flocculation of natural particulates into sinking aggregates is an
important pathway for energy transfer between pelagic and
benthic habitats (Ward and Kach, 2009). Consequently, the potential
for microplastics to become incorporated into marine aggregates
may present a further mode of entry into the food chain. Once
ingested, microplastics could sequentially be egested within fecal