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. 2021 Nov 13;9(11):305.
doi: 10.3390/toxics9110305.

Variable Fitness Response of Two Rotifer Species Exposed to Microplastics Particles: The Role of Food Quantity and Quality

Claudia Drago  1 , Guntram Weithoff  1   2
Affiliations

Variable Fitness Response of Two Rotifer Species Exposed to Microplastics Particles: The Role of Food Quantity and Quality

Claudia Drago et al. Toxics. .

Abstract

Plastic pollution is an increasing environmental problem, but a comprehensive understanding of its effect in the environment is still missing. The wide variety of size, shape, and polymer composition of plastics impedes an adequate risk assessment. We investigated the effect of differently sized polystyrene beads (1-, 3-, 6-µm; PS) and polyamide fragments (5-25 µm, PA) and non-plastics items such as silica beads (3-µm, SiO2) on the population growth, reproduction (egg ratio), and survival of two common aquatic micro invertebrates: the rotifer species Brachionus calyciflorus and Brachionus fernandoi. The MPs were combined with food quantity, limiting and saturating food concentration, and with food of different quality. We found variable fitness responses with a significant effect of 3-µm PS on the population growth rate in both rotifer species with respect to food quantity. An interaction between the food quality and the MPs treatments was found in the reproduction of B. calyciflorus. PA and SiO2 beads had no effect on fitness response. This study provides further evidence of the indirect effect of MPs in planktonic rotifers and the importance of testing different environmental conditions that could influence the effect of MPs.

Keywords: Brachionus calyciflorus; Brachionus fernandoi; egg ratio; fitness response; microplastics; polyamide; polystyrene; population growth rate; rotifers; silica beads.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Intensity of food reduction (Δr ± 95% confidence interval (CI)) of the rotifer B. calyciflorus and B. fernandoi at high and low food concentrations; (A–C) the red circles refer to the experiment with B. calyciflorus and the mixed algal diet (M. minutum and Cryptomonas sp.), and the green circles refers to the experiment with B. calyciflorus and one algal species (M. minutum); (B–D) the green triangle refers to B. fernandoi.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A−B−C egg ratio of B. calyciflorus and B. fernandoi exposed to the microbeads (mean ± SD); (A) egg ratio from B. calyciflorus fed on one algal species (M. minutum), with a statistically significant difference between the control group and the microbead treatment group; (B) egg ratio from B. fernandoi fed on one algal species (M. minutum), with a statistically significant difference between the control group and the microbead treatment group; (C) egg ratio from B. calyciflorus fed on mix algal diet (M. minutum and Cryptomonas sp.), with a statistically significant difference between the control group and the microbead treatment group; D−E−F percentage of survival of B. calyciflorus and B. fernandoi exposed to the microbeads (mean ± SD); (D) survival of B. calyciflorus fed on one algal species (M. minutum), with a statistically significant difference between the control group and the microbead treatment group; (E) survival from B. fernandoi feeding on one algal specie (M. minutum); (F) survival from B. calyciflorus fed on mix algal diet (M. minutum and Cryptomonas sp.), with a statistically significant difference between the control group and the microbead treatment group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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