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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%.
Polystyrene nanoparticles (PS NPs) released from plastic products have been demonstrated to pose a threat to leaf litter decomposition in streams. Given the multitrophic systems of species interactions, the effects of PS NPs through different exposure routes on ecosystem functioning remain unclear. Especially dietary exposure, a frequently overlooked pathway leading to toxicity, deserves more attention. A microcosm experiment was conducted in this study to assess the effects of waterborne and dietary exposure to PS NPs on the litter-based food chain involving leaves, microbial decomposers, and detritivores (river snails). Compared to waterborne contamination, dietary contamination resulted in lower microbial enzyme activities and a significantly higher decrease in the lipid content of leaves. For river snails, their antioxidant activity was significantly increased by 20.21%-69.93%, and their leaf consumption rate was significantly reduced by 16.60% through the dietary route due to the lower lipid content of leaves. Besides, the significantly decreased nutritional quality of river snails would negatively influence their palatability to predators. The findings of this study indicate that dietary exposure to PS NPs significantly impacts microbial and detritivore activities, thus affecting their functions in the detritus food chain as well as nutrient cycling.
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Nanoplastic pollution inhibits stream leaf decomposition through modulating microbial metabolic activity and fungal community structure
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Researchers found that polystyrene nanoplastics significantly inhibited leaf litter decomposition in freshwater streams, even at low concentrations. The study suggests this occurs through suppression of key microbial enzymes and shifts in fungal community structure, indicating that nanoplastic pollution could disrupt important nutrient cycling processes in freshwater ecosystems.
Impacts of low concentrations of nanoplastics on leaf litter decomposition and food quality for detritivores in streams
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Researchers found that low concentrations of polystyrene nanoplastics impaired leaf litter decomposition in forested streams by reducing aquatic hyphomycete fungal activity and decreasing food quality for detritivore invertebrates, threatening stream ecosystem function.
Effects of microsized and nanosized polystyrene on detrital processing and nutrient dynamics in streams
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Researchers exposed a stream detrital food chain — leaf-decomposing microbes and a river snail — to nano- and microsized polystyrene particles and found that nanosized particles suppressed microbial growth while boosting certain enzymes, whereas microsized particles reduced leaf nitrogen content and snail feeding, indicating distinct ecological disruption pathways depending on particle size.
Evidence of micro and macroplastic toxicity along a stream detrital food-chain.
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Both micro- and macroplastic polyethylene pieces inhibited the decomposition of leaf litter in freshwater streams, with microplastics reducing the feeding activity of stream invertebrates. Since leaf litter decomposition is a critical process that nutrients and energy flow into freshwater food webs, plastic pollution could disrupt these fundamental ecosystem functions.
Microplastics and silver nanoparticles compromise detrital food chains in streams through effects on microbial decomposers and invertebrate detritivores
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Researchers tested how microplastics and silver nanoparticles, both common pollutants from personal care products, affect stream food webs built around decomposing leaf litter. They found that both pollutants, alone and in combination, reduced fungal decomposition and harmed invertebrate feeding and growth, disrupting the base of the food chain. The study suggests that the co-occurrence of these contaminants in freshwater could impair nutrient cycling in stream ecosystems.
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