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Multigenerational resilience of the marine rotifer Brachionus plicatilis to high temperature after additive exposure to high salinity and nanoplastics
Summary
Researchers exposed marine rotifers to combinations of high temperature, high salinity, and nanoplastics to study how organisms cope with multiple environmental stressors across generations. They found that while the animals could recover from heat stress alone within one generation, the combined effects of all three stressors took four generations to fully dissipate. The study demonstrates that aquatic organisms can show resilience to complex environmental challenges, but recovery takes significantly longer when multiple stressors act together.
To study multigenerational resilience to high temperature (HT) conditions, we exposed Brachionus plicatilis marine rotifers to HT, high salinity (HS), and nanoplastics (NPs), and measured reproductive and life-cycle endpoints. After exposure to HT, rotifer lifespans were reduced, but daily production of offspring increased. However, both combined HT/HS and HT/HS/NP exposure led to additional decreases in longevity and reproductive ability; the antioxidant defense mechanisms of the rotifers were also notably upregulated as measured by reactive oxygen species levels. Fatty-acid profiles were reduced in all conditions. In multigenerational experiments, the negative effects of HT dissipated rapidly; however, the effects of HT/HS and HT/HS/NPs required four generations to disappear completely. The findings indicated that B. plicatilis were able to recover from these environmental stressors. This study demonstrated the resilience of aquatic organisms in response to changing environmental conditions and provides insights into the complex interactions of different abiotic stressors.