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Microplastics and Nanoplastics Alter the Physicochemical Properties of Willow Trees and Lead to Mortality in Leaf Beetle Larvae
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Researchers discovered that polystyrene micro- and nanoplastics absorbed by willow trees altered the plants' physical properties, making their leaves tougher and less digestible for leaf beetle larvae. Larvae that fed on contaminated willow leaves experienced disrupted gut bacteria, weakened immune systems, and significantly higher mortality rates. The findings reveal how microplastic pollution can cascade through food webs, indirectly harming insects through changes in the plants they eat.
Polystyrene micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) are increasingly found in terrestrial environments, posing risks across the food web. However, the potential impacts of MNPs transfer on plant-insect interactions remains largely unknown. In this study, consumption of willow plants (Salix maizhokunggarensis) exposed to 10.0 mg/L MNPs for 21 days inhibited survival and reduced body weight in Plagiodera versicolora larvae unlike those exposed to lower concentrations or shorter durations (0.1, 1.0 and 10.0 mg/L MNPs for 7 or 14 days). MNPs exposure increased lignin content and leaf thickness in willows, leading to decreased leaf consumption and increased mouthpart wear in P. versicolora larvae. Transcriptome and gut microbiota analyses revealed significant downregulation of genes related to digestion, intestinal homoeostasis, immunity, and growth/development along with profound alterations in gut microbiota composition. Notably, the abundance of the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas increased significantly. The gut barrier was disrupted, allowing gut bacteria to translocate into the haemolymph, accelerating larval mortality. Overall, MNPs altered plant physiology, making willow plants unsuitable for herbivore consumption and indirectly influenced herbivore survival by modulating gut bacteria. These findings offer novel insights into the cascading ecological effects and risks of MNPs, highlighting potential impacts on plant-herbivore interactions, biodiversity, and ecosystem health in terrestrial ecosystems.
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Uptake and physiological impacts of nanoplastics in trees with divergent water use strategies
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Researchers studied how nanoplastics are taken up by tree roots and whether this uptake affects tree health and function. They found that trees did absorb nanoplastics through their root systems, and the particles caused oxidative stress and reduced photosynthetic capacity. The study suggests that plastic pollution in soil could impair the functioning of trees, which play a critical role in carbon sequestration and ecosystem health.
The combined contamination of nano-polystyrene and nanoAg: Uptake, translocation and ecotoxicity effects on willow saplings
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Researchers studied how nanoplastics and silver nanoparticles interact and affect willow saplings in a hydroponic experiment. Evidence indicates that nanoplastics can penetrate plant roots and travel to branches and leaves through xylem ducts, and that co-exposure with silver nanoparticles alters the plants' physiological and biochemical responses.
Bioaccumulation, trophic transfer and exuvial elimination of polystyrene nanoplastics in a terrestrial predator-prey system
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Scientists fed nanoplastics to snails, then to beetle larvae, and found the plastic particles built up in the larvae's gut and slowed their growth, though it didn't spread up the food chain in larger amounts. This shows plastics can quietly stress animals as they move through nature's food web, a reminder that the same tiny particles turning up in our food and water may carry similar hidden risks.
Effects of nanoplastic exposure routes on leaf decomposition in streams
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Researchers conducted a microcosm experiment showing that dietary exposure to nanoplastics — through eating contaminated leaf litter — more severely disrupts stream food webs than waterborne exposure, reducing microbial enzyme activity, lowering leaf lipid content, and decreasing river snail feeding rates by up to 17%.
Nano-polystyrene influences energy flow dynamics in stream brown-green food chains: Evidence from feeding preference shifts of a river snail
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Tiny plastic particles from pollution (nanoplastics) mess with life in streams by changing the quality of food sources like decaying leaves and algae, and by stressing out the snails that eat them—causing the snails to switch what they eat and disrupting the natural food chain. While this study focused on stream ecosystems rather than humans directly, it's a reminder that nanoplastics are already reshaping the natural systems that produce the food and water we depend on, adding to concerns about how deeply these particles might infiltrate the environment we live in.
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