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Environmentally relevant concentrations of tyre particles cause toxicity in estuarine invertebrates
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Researchers exposed estuarine organisms to environmentally relevant concentrations of tire particles and measured toxicity endpoints including survival, reproduction, and behavior. Tire particles caused significant adverse effects at concentrations already found in some urban estuaries, suggesting current environmental levels pose ecological risks.
Tyre particles, derived from abrasion between tyres and highways, constitute a major source of microplastics to the natural environment. These synthetic particles can enter transitional waters via a number of routes including aeolian deposition, highway run-off and riverine pathways. Within estuaries, salinity gradients and reduced hydrodynamic flow is predicted to result in tyre particle deposition. Recent methodological advances have facilitated measurements of tyre particles within environmental matrices, with concentrations ranging 0-30 g/kg in estuarine sediments. Tyres contain high concentrations of metals, PAHs, phthalates, antioxidants, benzothiazole and derivatives that may cause toxicity in exposed biota. Lugworms (Arenicola marina) and cockles (Cerastoderma edule) are native to temperate estuarine sediments, facilitating sediment turnover and oxygenation, and supporting biodiversity. Here, we exposed lugworms and cockles to tyre particle concentrations of 0-100 g/kg to test the hypothesis that these anthropogenic particles can cause adverse health effects at environmentally relevant concentrations. Individual lugworms and cockles (n=5 per treatment) were incubated in 1 kg of estuarine sediment containing chemically characterised tyre particles (0-500 µm) and 0.1 Also see: https://micro2024.sciencesconf.org/557794/document
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