Toxicity of microplastics and natural particles in the freshwater dipteran Chironomus riparius: Same same but different?

  • Microplastics (MP) are contaminants of emerging concern in aquatic ecosystems. While the number of studies is rapidly increasing, a comparison of the toxicity of MP and natural particulate matter is largely missing. In addition, research focusses on the impacts of hydrophobic chemicals sorbed to plastics. However, the interactive effects of MP and hydrophilic, dissolved chemicals remain largely unknown. Therefore, we conducted chronic toxicity studies with larvae of the freshwater dipteran Chironomus riparius exposed to unplasticised polyvinyl chloride MP (PVC-MP) as well as kaolin and diatomite as reference materials for 28 days. In addition, we investigated the effects of particles in combination with the neonicotinoid imidacloprid in a multiple-stressor experiment. High concentrations of kaolin positively affected the chironomids. In contrast, exposure to diatomite and PVC-MP reduced the emergence and mass of C. riparius. Likewise, the toxicity of imidacloprid was enhanced in the presence of PVC-MP and slightly decreased in the co-exposure with kaolin. Overall, parallel experiments and chemical analysis indicate that the toxicity of PVC-MP was not caused by leached or sorbed chemicals. Our study demonstrates that PVC-MP induce more severe effects than both natural particulate materials. However, the latter are not benign per se, as the case of diatomite highlights. Considering the high, environmentally irrelevant concentrations needed to induce adverse effects, C. riparius is insensitive to exposures to PVC-MP.
Metadaten
Author:Christian SchererORCiDGND, Raoul Wolf, Johannes VölkerORCiDGND, Friederike Stock, Nicole Brennhold, Georg ReifferscheidORCiDGND, Martin WagnerORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-529980
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134604
ISSN:1879-1026
ISSN:0048-9697
Pubmed Id:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31818558
Parent Title (English):The science of the total environment
Publisher:Elsevier Science
Place of publication:Amsterdam [u. a.]
Contributor(s):Damia Barcelo
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Year of Completion:2019
Date of first Publication:2019/11/17
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2020/03/04
Tag:Imidacloprid; Invertebrates; Multiple stressors; Nanoplastics; Thermal desorption GC–MS
Volume:711.2020
Issue:Art. 134604
Page Number:12
First Page:1
Last Page:12
Note:
This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
HeBIS-PPN:461426595
Institutes:Biowissenschaften / Institut für Ökologie, Evolution und Diversität
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 59 Tiere (Zoologie) / 590 Tiere (Zoologie)
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung 4.0