Disentangling the Impacts of PAHs, Microplastics, and Sediment Resuspension on Algal Physiology: A Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling Approach.

ABSTRACT: Environmental stressors, such as contaminants and physical factors, rarely act in isolation, and studying their joint effects provides a more accurate reflection of real-world scenarios. To capture these interactions and disentangle the direct and indirect influences on algal responses, we applied partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), allowing us to reveal the hierarchical relationships among stressors and their cumulative impact on algal physiology. We examined combined effects of microplastics (MP; presence/absence), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs; a mixture of acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, and fluoranthene at a total chemical activity in the sediment of 0 or 0.14), and sediment resuspension (turbidity: 0.8-3.9 NTU) on Ceramium tenuicorne, a

SUBMITTER: Lo HS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12447228 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature