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Study on the Microplastics’ Effect on the Life History of Daphnia magna
Summary
Researchers exposed Daphnia magna to fluorescent microspheres at two particle sizes (0.1 um and 5 um) and two concentrations (0.1 mg/L and 1 mg/L) to study microplastic effects on zooplankton life history. Both particle sizes and concentrations negatively affected growth and reproduction but not survival rate, with larger particles at higher concentrations having the greatest impact and smaller particles proving more harmful at low concentrations.
Microplastics (MPs), a type of new pollutant, have shown negative impacts on the aquatic environment. To understand how MPs impact zooplanktons, we studied the life history of Daphnia magna. D. magna those fed with fluorescent microspheres at two different concentrations (0.1mg/L and 1mg/L) and particle sizes respectively (0.1μm and 5μm). The results showed that MPs negatively affected the growth and reproduction of D. magna significantly. Specifically, the impact of higher concentration of 5μm microspheres > high concentration of 0.1μm microspheres > low concentration of 0.1μm microspheres > low concentration of 5μm microspheres. In addition, prolonged feeding time in large-particle-size microspheres (5μm) enhanced the ingestion of microspheres by D. magna , resulting in higher impact on life history. In conclusion, smallparticle-size microspheres (0.1μm) are more harmful at low concentrations. However, microplastic pollution shows impacts only on the life history (growth and reproduction), but not the survival rate of D. magna in our study.