University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, 113 Večna Pot, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Environ Pollut. 2020 Jul;262:114354. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114354. Epub 2020 Mar 10.
Research on the interaction of microplastics and aquatic organisms has been mainly focused on the evaluation of various impacts on animals while aquatic vascular plants have been so far understudied. In this commentary, we summarized knowledge about interactions of microplastics with aquatic vascular plants and highlighted potential ecological implications. Based on recent research, microplastics have minimal impacts on plants. However, they are strongly attracted to plant tissues, adsorbed, and accumulated by plants. Several mechanisms drive microplastics adsorption and accumulation; the most possibly electrostatic forces, leaf morphology, and presence of periphyton belong among the most important ones. Adsorbed microplastics on plant tissues are easily ingested by herbivores. Plants can thus represent a viable pathway for microplastics to enter aquatic food webs. On the other hand, the strong interactions of microplastics with plants could be used for their phytostabilization and final removal from the environment. Aquatic vascular plants have thus an important role in the behavior and fate of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems, and therefore, they should also be included in the future microplastic research.
对微塑料与水生生物相互作用的研究主要集中在评估各种对动物的影响上，而水生维管束植物迄今研究较少。在本评论中，我们总结了微塑料与水生维管束植物相互作用的知识，并强调了潜在的生态影响。基于最近的研究，微塑料对植物的影响很小。然而，它们强烈地被植物组织吸引，并被植物吸附和积累。有几种机制驱动微塑料的吸附和积累，最有可能的是静电力、叶片形态和周丛生物的存在。吸附在植物组织上的微塑料很容易被食草动物摄入。因此，植物可以成为微塑料进入水生食物网的可行途径。另一方面，微塑料与植物的强烈相互作用可以用于它们的植物稳定化和最终从环境中去除。因此，水生维管束植物在水生生态系统中微塑料的行为和命运中具有重要作用，因此，它们也应该被纳入未来的微塑料研究中。
