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From Survival to Reproduction– Developmental Plasticity to Microplastics in a Field Cricket
Summary
Field crickets fed diets containing nylon microplastic filaments at ecologically relevant concentrations showed impacts on survival, body composition, and reproductive tissue investment measured from hatchling to adulthood. Because plastic pollution originates on land and insects are foundational to terrestrial food webs, this study provides important early evidence of how microplastic ingestion propagates through land-based ecosystems.
Microplastics (MPs) pollute environments worldwide, and they are toxic to many aquatic and marine animals. Yet, plastics pollution originates on land, so terrestrial animals may be particularly vulnerable to MPs. This study investigates the developmental plasticity of a terrestrial insect (variable field cricket, Gryllus lineaticeps) in response to three levels of nylon MP filaments within their diet. From hatchling stage to adulthood, crickets were fed a diet with no added MPs (control), 0.6% w/w MPs added (low), or 1.2% MPs w/w added (high). Several fitness-related traits were then measured at adulthood: survival, developmental rate, body mass and size, investment into reproductive and somatic tissues, and flight capacity. This study provides insight into the potential effects of MP exposure in an insect to assess the impact of MP pollution in terrestrial ecosystems.