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Developmental toxicity of pre-production plastic pellets affects a large swathe of invertebrate taxa
Summary
Researchers tested the developmental toxicity of plastic pre-production pellet leachates across a wide range of invertebrate species from all major animal superphyla. They found concentration-dependent harmful effects on embryo development, cell specification, and morphogenesis in species from molluscs to cnidarians. The study serves as a proof of principle that increasing plastic concentrations in marine environments could have widespread, potentially catastrophic effects on animal development across many taxonomic groups.
Abstract Microplastics pose risks to marine organisms through ingestion, entanglement, and as carriers of toxic additives and environmental pollutants. Plastic pre-production pellet leachates have been shown to affect the development of sea urchins and, to some extent, mussels. The extent of those developmental effects on other animal phyla remains unknown. Here, we test the toxicity of environmental mixed nurdle samples and new PVC pellets for the embryonic development or asexual reproduction by regeneration of animals from all the major animal superphyla (Lophotrochozoa, Ecdysozoa, Deuterostomia and Cnidaria). Our results show diverse, concentration-dependent impacts in all the species sampled for new pellets, and for molluscs and deuterostomes for environmental samples. Embryo axial formation, cell specification and, specially, morphogenesis seem to be the main processes affected by plastic leachate exposure. Our study serves as a proof of principle for the potentially catastrophic effects that increasing plastic concentrations in the oceans and other ecosystems can have across animal populations from all major animal superphyla.