Microplastics Affect the Ecological Functioning of an Important Biogenic Habitat
Microplastics Affect the Ecological Functioning of an Important Biogenic Habitat
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DOI：
10.1021/acs.est.6b04496
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发表时间：
2017-01-03
影响因子：
11.4
通讯作者：
Thompson, Richard
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Green, Dannielle Senga;Boots, Bas;Thompson, Richard
微塑料对双壳类动物健康的生物效应已在其他地方得到证实，但对双壳类动物主导栖息地的生物多样性和生态系统功能的生态影响尚不清楚。因此，我们将海水中含有欧洲扁平牡蛎（Ostrea edulis）或蓝贻贝（Mytilus edulis）的完整沉积物岩心暴露在室外中生态系统中两种不同密度（2.5或25 μ g L-1）的可生物降解微塑料或常规微塑料中。我们假设双壳类动物的过滤速率；无机氮循环、沉积微底栖植物初级生产力和无脊椎底栖生物群落结构将受到微塑料的影响。50天后，两种微塑料浓度均为25 μ g L-1时，毛毛杆菌的滤过量显著减少，但对生态系统功能或相关无脊椎动物群落没有影响。相比之下，当微塑料浓度为2.5或25 μ g L-1时，O. edulis的过滤作用显著增加，底栖蓝藻的孔隙水铵和生物量下降。此外，相关的动物无脊椎动物组合也有所不同，暴露于微塑料的处理中，多毛体明显减少，寡毛体明显增加。这些发现强调了微塑料影响沉积栖息地功能和结构的潜力，并表明这种影响可能取决于存在的优势双壳类。
Biological effects of microplastics on the health of bivalves have been demonstrated elsewhere, but ecological impacts on the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of bivalve-dominated habitats are unknown. Thus, we exposed intact sediment cores containing European flat oysters (Ostrea edulis) or blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) in seawater to two different densities (2.5 or 25 mu g L-1) of biodegradable or conventional microplastics in outdoor mesocosms. We hypothesized that filtration rates of the bivalves; inorganic nitrogen cycling, primary productivity of sediment dwelling microphytobenthos, and the structure of invertebrate benthic assemblages would be influenced by microplastics. After 50 days, filtration by M. edulis was significantly less when exposed to 25 mu g L-1 of either type of microplastics, but there were no effects on ecosystem functioning or the associated invertebrate assemblages. Contrastingly, filtration by O. edulis significantly increased when exposed to 2.5 or 25 mu g L-1 of microplastics, and porewater ammonium and biomass of benthic cyanobacteria decreased. Additionally the associated infaunal invertebrate assemblages differed, with significantly less polychaetes and more oligochaetes in treatments exposed to microplastics. These findings highlight the potential of microplastics to impact the functioning and structure of sedimentary habitats and show that such effects may depend on the dominant bivalve present.