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Comparing effects of microplastic exposure, FPOM resource quality, and consumer density on the response of a freshwater particle feeder and associated ecosystem processes

Aquatic Sciences 2023 7 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 50 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Ze Hui Kong, Ze Hui Kong, Ze Hui Kong, Ze Hui Kong, Ze Hui Kong, Mirco Bundschuh, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Mirco Bundschuh, Mirco Bundschuh, Mirco Bundschuh, Francis J. Burdon, Amélie Truchy, Martyn N. Futter, Martyn N. Futter, Brendan G. McKie Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Martyn N. Futter, Rachel Hurley, Martyn N. Futter, Martyn N. Futter, Rachel Hurley, Martyn N. Futter, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Mirco Bundschuh, Martyn N. Futter, Amélie Truchy, Francis J. Burdon, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Mirco Bundschuh, Amélie Truchy, Martyn N. Futter, Martyn N. Futter, Rachel Hurley, Martyn N. Futter, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Mirco Bundschuh, Rachel Hurley, Mirco Bundschuh, Martyn N. Futter, Mirco Bundschuh, Rachel Hurley, Mirco Bundschuh, Mirco Bundschuh, Mirco Bundschuh, Mirco Bundschuh, Francis J. Burdon, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Martyn N. Futter, Mirco Bundschuh, Martyn N. Futter, Martyn N. Futter, Rachel Hurley, Martyn N. Futter, Martyn N. Futter, Amélie Truchy, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Mirco Bundschuh, Mirco Bundschuh, Martyn N. Futter, Martyn N. Futter, Rachel Hurley, Mirco Bundschuh, Brendan G. McKie Mirco Bundschuh, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Martyn N. Futter, Brendan G. McKie Martyn N. Futter, Rachel Hurley, Martyn N. Futter, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Brendan G. McKie

Summary

Researchers found that realistic microplastic concentrations had minimal direct effects on freshwater particle feeders compared to the much stronger influences of food resource quality and consumer density on growth, survival, and ecosystem processes in stream microcosms.

Polymers

Study Type Environmental

Abstract Fine particulate organic matter (FPOM) is an important basal resource in stream ecosystems for deposit- and filter-feeding macroinvertebrates (collectively ‘particle feeders’). Microplastics (MP) share many characteristics with FPOM (e.g. size range, surface area to volume ratios) and are potentially consumed by particle feeders. Accordingly, MP contamination of natural FPOM pools might affect particle feeder growth and survival, particularly when background FPOM resource quality is low, or intraspecific competition is high. We conducted a microcosm experiment to evaluate how a realistic (1400 particles/kg sediment) polyethylene MP ( ø = 45–53 µm) concentration interacts with FPOM ( ø = 63–250 µm) resource quality (low versus high nutrient content) and consumer density (10 versus 20 individuals per microcosm) to affect growth and survival of larval Chironomus riparius (Diptera: Chironomidae), a model particle feeder. We additionally quantified community respiration, based on three hour measurements of oxygen consumption in the microcosms at the end of the experiment. MP exposure reduced larval body lengths by 26.7%, but only under the low consumer density treatment. MPs reduced community respiration by 26.2%, but only in the absence of chironomids, indicating an impact on microbial respiration. In comparison, low resource quality and high consumer density were associated with 53.5–70.2% reductions in community respiration, chironomid body length and/or body mass. These results suggest that effects of contamination of FPOM with MPs at environmentally realistic concentrations on the life histories of particle feeders such as C. riparius might be limited, especially relative to the effects of resource quality and consumer density. However, the reduction in microbial respiration when MPs were present highlights the need for further research addressing MP impacts on microbes, given their key roles in ecosystem functioning.

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