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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Freshwater Lacustrine Zooplankton and Microplastic: An Issue to Be Still Explored
ClearThe Impacts of Microplastics on Zooplankton
This review examines the growing concern about microplastic impacts on marine and freshwater zooplankton, noting that these tiny organisms can ingest microplastics and are at the base of most aquatic food webs. Plastic ingestion can cause gut blockages, immune responses, energy loss, and reduced reproduction, with potential cascading effects on ecosystems and the species—including fish and humans—that feed on zooplankton.
Impacts of Microplastics on Zooplankton
This review examines the impacts of microplastics on zooplankton communities, covering how microplastic ingestion and physicochemical alterations of aquatic environments affect zooplankton feeding, reproduction, and community structure. Zooplankton are highlighted as ecologically critical organisms whose disruption can cascade through aquatic food webs.
Microplastics impact simple aquatic food web dynamics through reduced zooplankton feeding and potentially releasing algae from consumer control
Researchers investigated how environmentally relevant concentrations of microplastics affect freshwater food web dynamics using two zooplankton species. The study found that microplastic exposure reduced zooplankton feeding rates, which could potentially release algae from consumer control and disrupt aquatic food chain balance.
The impact of microplastics on lake communities: A mesocosm study
Researchers conducted a mesocosm experiment to assess how microplastic contamination affects lake communities, including zooplankton, macroinvertebrates, and fish. They found that microplastic exposure caused varying effects across organism groups, with some community-level changes observed over the study period. The study highlights that microplastic pollution can alter freshwater ecosystem dynamics beyond what has been documented in single-species laboratory studies.
Microplastics at Environmentally Relevant Concentrations Had Minimal Impacts on Pelagic Zooplankton Communities in a Large In-Lake Mesocosm Experiment
Researchers conducted a large-scale 10-week mesocosm experiment in a Canadian boreal lake to assess microplastic impacts on zooplankton at environmentally relevant concentrations. They found that zooplankton ingested low levels of microplastics and their overall abundance and community composition were not negatively impacted. However, temporary effects were observed, including stimulation of some species and short-term reductions in egg production, suggesting microplastics may have complex but limited effects at current environmental levels.
Microplastic pollution in lakes: Sources, impact, and solutions
This review comprehensively covers the sources, pathways, ecological impacts, and remediation strategies for microplastic pollution in freshwater lakes, highlighting how particles from urban runoff, wastewater, and atmospheric deposition accumulate in lake ecosystems and transfer into food webs.
Microplastics in lakes and rivers: an issue of emerging significance to limnology
Researchers found that microplastic concentrations in freshwater lakes and rivers can exceed those of living organisms like zooplankton, with sediment levels matching the most contaminated marine sites, establishing microplastics as a significant issue for limnology.
Footprint of the plastisphere on freshwater zooplankton
Researchers studied zooplankton functional groups in a temperate floodplain lake and the Drava River in Croatia, examining how the 'plastisphere' (microplastics as substrate for microbial communities) compares with natural substrates as a food source. They found the plastisphere supported a less mature microbial community than epilithon and epixylon substrates, with zooplankton species diversity and biomass higher in the stable lake than in the river.
A Survey of Microplastics in Invertebrates in the Lake Champlain Basin
This study investigated microplastic ingestion by aquatic macroinvertebrates in the Lake Champlain basin, finding microplastics in multiple invertebrate species at various sites. The results confirm that microplastics have entered the base of the food web in this large North American freshwater lake.
Does microplastic ingestion by zooplankton affect predator-prey interactions? An experimental study on larviphagy
Filter feeders consumed significantly fewer zooplankton prey that had ingested microplastics compared to uncontaminated prey, suggesting that microplastic ingestion makes zooplankton less appealing or nutritious. This effect on predation could have cascading consequences for marine food webs.
Research status and prospects of microplastic pollution in lakes
This review systematically covers microplastic pollution research in lakes, including sampling and identification methods, distribution patterns, ecological effects, and knowledge gaps, identifying lakes as important but understudied sinks for microplastic contamination.
The characteristics of plastic nanoparticles and their effect on zooplankton
This thesis reviewed the characteristics of plastic nanoparticles and their potential effects on zooplankton, which are a foundational component of aquatic food webs. Because nanoplastics are smaller than microplastics, they are more easily taken up by tiny organisms and may have more pervasive ecological effects.
Microplastic Ingestion by Zooplankton
This study examined whether tiny marine animals called zooplankton can ingest microplastics, and researchers found that thirteen different zooplankton species consumed plastic beads of various sizes. The plastics also stuck to the animals' outer shells and significantly reduced their normal feeding on algae, suggesting that microplastic pollution could disrupt the base of the marine food web.
Microplastics integrating the zooplanktonic fraction in a saline lake of Argentina: influence of water management
Microplastics were found throughout a shallow Argentinian lake and its irrigation channel in all seasons, with fiber contamination dominating and concentrations highest in summer. The study found that microplastics mix into the zooplankton fraction, suggesting they could be ingested by small organisms and transferred up the food chain.
Effects of a microplastic mixture differ across trophic levels and taxa in a freshwater food web: In situ mesocosm experiment
Researchers conducted the first in situ mesocosm experiment testing the effects of a microplastic mixture on a freshwater lake food web, spanning multiple trophic levels. The study found that microplastic effects varied across different organisms and trophic levels, providing important community-level evidence that laboratory findings may not fully predict how microplastics impact real aquatic ecosystems.
Bioavailability and effects of microplastics on marine zooplankton: A review
This review synthesized laboratory and field evidence on microplastic bioavailability and effects on marine zooplankton, finding that multiple taxa readily ingest microplastics with negative impacts on feeding, reproduction, and energy balance, and that zooplankton represent a critical route for transferring microplastics into marine food webs. The authors identify particle size, concentration, and feeding behavior as the main determinants of microplastic bioavailability to zooplankton.
Microplastic effects in aquatic ecosystems with special reference to fungi–zooplankton interaction: identification of knowledge gaps and prioritization of research needs
This review identifies a largely unexplored gap in microplastic research: how plastic pollution affects aquatic fungi and their interactions with zooplankton. Because fungi play critical roles in breaking down dead organic matter and serving as food for zooplankton, disruptions caused by microplastics — which can physically resemble fungal spores in size — could have cascading effects on freshwater food webs and nutrient cycling. The authors call for targeted experiments to fill this knowledge gap and better predict ecosystem-level impacts of microplastic contamination.
Microplastics and the freshwater plankton: Effects on grazing and mortality
This study exposed natural freshwater zooplankton communities to polyethylene microplastics of different sizes and found that the smallest particles (1-5 micrometers) were ingested most frequently, leading to reduced feeding on algae and increased mortality. When zooplankton ate microplastics instead of food, algae populations grew unchecked, disrupting the natural balance of the ecosystem. Since zooplankton are a key food source for fish, this disruption could ripple through the food chain and affect the quality of freshwater fish consumed by humans.
Is Zooplankton an Entry Point of Microplastics into the Marine Food Web?
Researchers investigated microplastic ingestion by zooplankton in natural marine environments, examining whether copepods and other zooplankton serve as an entry point for transferring microplastics from the water column into the marine food web.
Life in the Balance: Zooplankton’s Battle in a Changing Environment
This review highlights zooplankton as critical but often overlooked components of marine and freshwater ecosystems, examining how they are threatened by stressors including climate change, pollution, and microplastic ingestion.
Modeling Decreased Resilience of Shallow Lake Ecosystems toward Eutrophication due to Microplastic Ingestion across the Food Web
Researchers used theoretical food web modelling to investigate how increasing microplastic concentrations affect the resilience of shallow lake ecosystems to eutrophication, finding that microplastics could reduce critical phosphorus loading thresholds by 20-40% by end of century at current production rates. The model identified negative effects on zooplankton as the primary driver, though secondary effects at current concentrations were predicted to be negligible.
Microplastic ingestion by Daphnia magna and its enhancement on algal growth
Researchers examined microplastic ingestion by the freshwater zooplankton Daphnia magna and its downstream effects on algal growth, finding that the organisms readily ingested microparticles. The study also observed that microplastic exposure indirectly enhanced algal growth, possibly by reducing grazing pressure, suggesting that plastic pollution could alter freshwater food web dynamics.
Experimental evaluation of microplastic consumption by using a size-fractionation approach in the planktonic communities
Researchers found that microplastic particles significantly reduced consumption across all size fractions of natural plankton communities from a Brazilian tropical lake, with smaller particles having greater consumption effects and lower trophic levels such as protists showing the highest impact.
Filter feeders are key to small microplastic residence times in stratified lakes: A virtual experiment
Using laboratory experiments and computer simulations, this study found that filter-feeding zooplankton dramatically shorten the time that small microplastics remain in lake water columns — reducing residence times from over 15 years to roughly 1 year — by ingesting and transporting particles to the lake bottom. This means filter feeders play a critical role in controlling microplastic cycling in lakes, with important implications for food-web exposure and sediment accumulation.