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Nano-Sized Polystyrene at 1 mg/L Concentrations Does Not Show Strong Disturbance on the Freshwater Microbial Community
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Researchers found that low concentrations (1 mg/L) of nano-sized polystyrene particles had only minor and temporary effects on freshwater microbial community structure and function. This suggests nanoplastics at this concentration level do not cause strong disruption to freshwater microbial ecosystems.
In recent years, microplastics and nanoplastics have gained public attention, but their impacts on the freshwater microbial communities is rarely evaluated. In this study, the effects of 1 mg/L nano-sized polystyrene (nPS) and its modified forms (carboxyl-modified and amino-modified nPS) on the structures and functions of freshwater microbial community were determined. The nPS were found to slightly reduce the chlorophyll-a and increase the phycocyanin contents of freshwater microbial communities. Moreover, the richness of the microbial communities temporarily decreased during this process, while their diversity remained uninfluenced by treatment with nPS. Although the three tested nPS types were found to disturb the compositions of both the prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities to some degree, they did not affect the functions of freshwater bacterial communities significantly due to functional redundancy. Our study demonstrated that the ecotoxicities of the nPS itself were found to be lower than what is generally expected.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.