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Beyond microplastics: Water soluble synthetic polymers exert sublethal adverse effects in the freshwater cladoceran Daphnia magna
Summary
Researchers exposed the freshwater cladoceran Daphnia magna to five water-soluble synthetic polymers commonly used as industrial flocculants and coagulants, finding sublethal life history changes and elevated reactive oxygen species levels without acute mortality. Because daphnids are keystone species controlling phytoplankton biomass, these sublethal effects could produce cascading trophic consequences, highlighting water-soluble polymers as a neglected class of aquatic contaminants.
Plastic pollution is considered one of the causes of global change. However, water soluble synthetic polymers (WSSPs) have been neglected so far, although they are used in several industrial, dietary, domestic and biomedical products. Moreover, they are applied in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) as flocculants and coagulant agents. Hence, their presence in the aquatic environment as well as their uptake by aquatic organisms is probable, whereas no data are available regarding their potential adverse effects. Here we show in the freshwater key species D. magna exposed to five differentWSSPs life history changes along with an altered level of reactive oxygen species, although acute mortality was not observed. Since daphnids act as keystone species in lake ecosystems by controlling phytoplankton biomass, even sublethal effects such as WSSPs induced changes in life history may result in cascading effects, from lower to higher trophic levels, which in turn could affect the whole food web. Also see: https://micro2022.sciencesconf.org/425611/document