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Microplastic ingestion by riverine macroinvertebrates
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Aquatic insect larvae (Baetidae, Heptageniidae, Hydropsychidae) were collected upstream and downstream of five UK wastewater treatment works and analyzed for microplastics, with MPs found in approximately 50% of samples at all sites and concentrations up to 0.14 MPs/mg tissue. The study finds no consistent increase in microplastic ingestion downstream of WWTPs, suggesting widespread baseline contamination rather than WWTP-specific hotspots.
Although microplastics are a recognised pollutant in marine environments, less attention has been directed towards freshwater ecosystems despite their greater proximity to possible plastic sources. Here, we quantify the presence of microplastic particles (MPs) in river organisms upstream and downstream of five UK Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTWs). MPs were identified in approximately 50% of macroinvertebrate samples collected (Baetidae, Heptageniidae and Hydropsychidae) at concentrations up to 0.14 MP mg tissue-1 and they occurred at all sites. MP abundance was associated with macroinvertebrate biomass and taxonomic family, but MPs occurred independently of feeding guild and biological traits such as habitat affinity and ecological niche. There was no increase in plastic ingestion downstream of WwTW discharges averaged across sites, but MP abundance in macroinvertebrates marginally increased where effluent discharges contributed more to total runoff and declined with increasing river discharge. The ubiquity of microplastics within macroinvertebrates in this case study reveals a potential risk from MPs entering riverine food webs through at least two pathways, involving detritivory and filter-feeding, and we recommend closer attention to freshwater ecosystems in future research.
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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.