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Imhof, Hannes ; Laforsch, Christian:
Hazardous or not - Are adult and juvenile individuals of Potamopyrgus antipodarum affected by non-buoyant microplastic particles?
In: Environmental Pollution.
Bd. 218
(2016)
.
- S. 383-391.
ISSN 1873-6424
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2016.07.017
Abstract
Microplastic has been ubiquitously detected in freshwater ecosystems. A variety of freshwater organismswere shown to ingest microplastic particles, while a high potential for adverse effects are expected.However, studies addressing the effect of microplastic in freshwater species are still scarce compared tostudies on marine organisms. In order to gain further insights into possible adverse effects of microplasticparticles on freshwater invertebrates and to set the base for further experiments we exposed themud snail (Potampoyrgus antipodarum) to a large range of common and environmentally relevant nonbuoyantpolymers (polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate, polycarbonate, polystyrene, polyvinylchloride).The impact of these polymers was tested by performing two exposure experiments withirregular shaped microplastic particles with a broad size distribution in a low (30%) and a high microplasticdose (70%) in the food.First, possible effects on adult P. antipodarum were assessed by morphological and life-history parameters.Second, the effect of the same mixture on the development of juvenile P. antipodarum untilmaturity was analyzed.Adult P. antipodarum showed no morphological changes after the exposure to the microplastic particles,even if supplied in a high dose. Moreover, although P. antipodarum is an established model organismand reacts especially sensitive to endocrine active substances no effects on embryogenesis weredetected. Similarly, the juvenile development until maturity was not affected.Considering, that most studies showing effects on marine and freshwater invertebrates mostlyexposed their experimental organisms to very small (20 mm) polystyrene microbeads, we anticipatethat these effects may be highly dependent on the chemical composition of the polymer itself and thesize and shape of the particles. Therefore, more studies are necessary to enable the identification ofharmful synthetic polymers as some of them may be problematic and should be declared as hazardouswhereas others may have relatively moderate or no effects.