Effects of Microplastic on the Population Dynamics of a Marine Copepod: Insights from a Laboratory Experiment and a Mechanistic Model.

ABSTRACT: Microplastic is ubiquitously and persistently present in the marine environment, but knowledge of its population-level effects is limited. In the present study, to quantify the potential theoretical population effect of microplastic, a two-step approach was followed. First, the impact of microplastic (polyethylene, 0.995 g cm^-3 , diameter 10-45 µm) on the filtration rate of the pelagic copepod Temora longicornis was investigated under laboratory conditions. It was found that the filtration rate decreased at increasing microplastic concentrations and followed a concentration-response relationship but that at microplastic concentrations <100 particles L^-1 the filtration rate was not affected. From the concentration-response relationship between the microplastic concentr

SUBMITTER: Everaert G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9328387 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature