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Looking for Nano- and Microplastics in Meiofauna Using Advanced Methodologies
Summary
This study developed new microscopy and spectroscopy methods to detect nano- and microplastics inside meiofauna — the tiny invertebrates (30–1000 µm) living at the bottom of marine and freshwater ecosystems. Because meiofauna are abundant and sit at the base of aquatic food webs, confirming their ingestion of plastic particles is important for understanding how microplastics enter and accumulate up the food chain.
Meiofauna (body size within 30–1000 µm) are the community of microscopic invertebrates that live at the bottom of marine and freshwater ecosystems and play a key role in the food webs of these environments. Several studies have addressed the adverse effects of anthropic stressors on meiofauna; however, data on the presence and impact of plastic debris in wild meiofaunal organisms are scant. Since the amount of microplastic waste in sediments may surge rapidly, ascertaining the ingestion of these xenobiotics by the abundant micrometazoan community is necessary to understand their potential accumulation in aquatic food webs and their hazard to the health of the ecosystem. The absence of documentation in this regard may be due to the difficulty in detecting the small size of the plastic fragments meiofauna may potentially ingest. To overcome this difficulty, we developed an integrated approach based on different microscopic/spectroscopic techniques suitable for detecting plastic particles of sizes down to 200 nm.