“Hook & Loop” Interactions between Fibrous Microplastics and Zooplankton †
1
Department F.-A. Forel for Environmental and Aquatic Sciences, Environmental Biogeochemistry and Ecotoxicology, Faculty of Sciences, Earth and Environment Sciences, University of Geneva, 66 Boulevard Carl-Vogt, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland
2
State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Presented at the International Conference EcoBalt 2023 “Chemicals & Environment”, Tallinn, Estonia, 9–11 October 2023.
Proceedings 2023, 92(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023092008
Published: 21 November 2023
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of International Conference EcoBalt 2023 "Chemicals & Environment")
Today, microplastics (1 µm–5 mm) have been found within organisms ranging from small invertebrates to large mammals [1,2,3]. However, fibrous microplastics, the dominant form of microplastics in the environment, are still not the focus of research [4]. Previous studies indicated that microfibers caused more behavioral toxicity in organisms than pellets and fragments because of organism entanglement [5,6]. Here, the overarching research objective was to gain more information about the behavioral effects of fibrous microplastics on freshwater zooplankton Daphnia magna. D. magna were exposed to fibrous polyester microplastics sized 300 ± 192 µm at different concentrations (10, 102, and 103 items/mL) in the presence of algal food. Behavioral responses, particularly swimming speed and swimming trajectory, were recorded and analyzed via a tracker for 7 days. The frequency of hop and sink behavior decreased when D. magna were exposed to microfibers. Moreover, a special phenomenon, namely “hook & loop”, was noticed when examining the connection between fibrous microplastics and D. magna, especially in the 102 items/mL group. Microfibers can easily twin the antennae and tail claws of D. magna, which is due to their faint pectinate spines. The strong effect of microfibers intertwined with algae or impurities prevented D. magna from moving freely, which caused a decrease in swimming speed and swimming trajectories. More interestingly, this phenomenon was not dose-dependent. D. magna exposed to much higher concentrations (103 items/mL) swam freely because of the aggregation of microplastics themselves, which indicates the importance of microplastic concentration number. Overall, this study demonstrates that “hook & loop” interactions between fibrous microplastics and zooplankton could be directly causing the organisms’ behavior changes, which indicates that the interactions of microplastics and organisms play a key role in understanding the behavior, fate, and effects of microplastics in the aquatic environment.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, C.M. and V.I.S.; methodology, C.M. and V.I.S.; software, C.M. and V.I.S.; validation, C.M. and V.I.S.; formal analysis, C.M.; investigation, C.M.; resources, C.M. and V.I.S.; data curation, C.M. and V.I.S.; writing—original draft preparation, C.M. and V.I.S.; writing—review and editing, C.M. and V.I.S.; visualization, C.M. and V.I.S.; supervision, V.I.S.; project administration, V.I.S.; funding acquisition, V.I.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This research was funded by the China Scholarship Council (20220716) and the University of Geneva.
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
The data presented in this study are available upon request from the corresponding author.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Huahong Shi for his informative suggestions and for providing fibrous microplastics. The authors also thank Marlita Marlita for her help with the culture of zooplankton and algae food.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Ma, C.; Slaveykova, V.I. “Hook & Loop” Interactions between Fibrous Microplastics and Zooplankton. Proceedings 2023, 92, 8. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023092008
AMA Style
Ma C, Slaveykova VI. “Hook & Loop” Interactions between Fibrous Microplastics and Zooplankton. Proceedings. 2023; 92(1):8. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023092008
Chicago/Turabian StyleMa, Cuizhu, and Vera I. Slaveykova. 2023. "“Hook & Loop” Interactions between Fibrous Microplastics and Zooplankton" Proceedings 92, no. 1: 8. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023092008
