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Ingestion and transfer of microplastics in the planktonic food web
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Researchers demonstrated that microplastics are ingested and transferred through a planktonic food web, with particles passing from primary producers to zooplankton grazers and on to predatory plankton, establishing trophic transfer as a real pathway for microplastic movement through marine food chains.
Experiments were carried out with different Baltic Sea zooplankton taxa to scan their potential to ingest plastics. Mysid shrimps, copepods, cladocerans, rotifers, polychaete larvae and ciliates were exposed to 10 μm fluorescent polystyrene microspheres. These experiments showed ingestion of microspheres in all taxa studied. The highest percentage of individuals with ingested spheres was found in pelagic polychaete larvae, Marenzelleria spp. Experiments with the copepod Eurytemora affinis and the mysid shrimp Neomysis integer showed egestion of microspheres within 12 h. Food web transfer experiments were done by offering zooplankton labelled with ingested microspheres to mysid shrimps. Microscopy observations of mysid intestine showed the presence of zooplankton prey and microspheres after 3 h incubation. This study shows for the first time the potential of plastic microparticle transfer via planktonic organisms from one trophic level (mesozooplankton) to a higher level (macrozooplankton). The impacts of plastic transfer and possible accumulation in the food web need further investigations.
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Researchers studied how microplastics move through a three-level marine food chain, from zooplankton prey to planktivorous fish, and how the availability of natural food affects microplastic ingestion. When natural food was scarce, organisms consumed more microplastics, and the particles transferred efficiently up the food chain. This study demonstrates that microplastics in the ocean can accumulate through the food web and reach fish species that humans commonly eat.
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Researchers used marine organisms across multiple trophic levels to study how microplastics move and accumulate through the food chain, finding that toxicological effects intensify at higher trophic levels due to bioaccumulation of plastic particles and associated chemical pollutants.
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