Microplastics at Environmentally Relevant Concentrations Had Minimal Impacts on Pelagic Zooplankton Communities in a Large In-Lake Mesocosm Experiment.

ABSTRACT: To assess the potential risks of contemporary levels of plastic pollution in freshwater ecosystems, a large-scale experiment was conducted over 10 weeks in a boreal lake at the IISD-Experimental Lakes Area (Ontario, Canada). Fragments of common polymers (polyethylene, polystyrene, and polyethylene terephthalate), each with distinct colors and buoyancies, were added as a single pulse to seven in-lake mesocosms in equal contributions in a range of environmentally relevant nominal concentrations (6-29,240 particles/L). Two additional mesocosms with no added microplastics were used as controls. Zooplankton ingested low levels of microplastics (mean of 0.06 particles/individual ± SD 0.07) and generally their total abundance and community composition were not negatively impacted. Temporary chang

SUBMITTER: Langenfeld D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11526364 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature