Locomotor behavior of Neocaridina palmata: a study with leachates from UV-weathered microplastics.

ABSTRACT: Weathering of plastics leads to the formation of increasingly smaller particles with the release of chemical compounds. The latter occurs with currently unknown environmental impacts. Leachate-induced effects of weathered microplastics (MPs) are therefore of increasing concern. To investigate the toxicity of the chemical mixtures from such plastics, we exposed the freshwater shrimp Neocaridina palmata to enriched leachates from unweathered and artificially weathered (UV-A/B light) MPs (≤1 mm) from recycled low-density polyethylene (LDPE-R) pellets and from a biodegradable, not fully bio-based starch blend (SB) foil. We analyzed the individual locomotor activity (moved distance and frozen events) on day 1, 3, 7 and 14 of exposure to five leachate concentrations equivalent to 0.40-15.

SUBMITTER: Klein K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8588861 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature