Center for Water and Ecology, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China; Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China.
Center for Water and Ecology, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
Environ Pollut. 2022 Jan 1;292(Pt A):118220. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118220. Epub 2021 Oct 1.
The prevalence of microplastics in marine, terrestrial, and freshwater habitats has raised concerns about their availability and risks to organisms. However, the effects of plastic debris on aquatic plants remain largely unknown and have hardly been studied, despite the importance of these plants in freshwater ecosystems. In this study, we exposed the aquatic carnivorous plant Utricularia vulgaris to polystyrene microplastics (10 and 80 mg/L) combined with different nutrient concentrations and then assessed their effects on the growth rate, photosynthesis, oxidative stress, and trap-associated microbial community of U. vulgaris. The impact of microplastic accumulation in the traps (or "bladders") of U. vulgaris was investigated using confocal microscopy. The results showed that the relative growth rate, shoot length, chlorophyll content, Fv/Fm, and ascorbate peroxidase enzyme activity of U. vulgaris decreased in 80 mg/L microplastics, whereas the superoxide dismutase and peroxidase enzyme activities increased significantly. The presence of microplastics led to higher malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide contents. However, high nutrient concentrations can compensate for the reduced growth performance of U. vulgaris in microplastic-exposure treatments. The microplastic treatments significantly altered the trap-associated microbial community structure and diversity. The results of this study revealed that beside adsorption, carnivorous plants can accumulate microplastics in their digestive organs.
微塑料在海洋、陆地和淡水生境中的普遍存在引起了人们对其生物可利用性和对生物的风险的关注。然而，尽管水生植物在淡水生态系统中具有重要作用，但塑料碎片对水生植物的影响仍然知之甚少，几乎没有得到研究。在这项研究中，我们将食虫水生植物狸藻暴露于聚苯乙烯微塑料（10 和 80mg/L）中，并结合不同的营养浓度，然后评估它们对狸藻的生长速度、光合作用、氧化应激和陷阱相关微生物群落的影响。使用共聚焦显微镜研究了微塑料在狸藻的陷阱（或“膀胱”）中的积累情况。结果表明，在 80mg/L 微塑料中，狸藻的相对生长率、茎长、叶绿素含量、Fv/Fm 和抗坏血酸过氧化物酶活性降低，而超氧化物歧化酶和过氧化物酶活性显著增加。微塑料的存在导致丙二醛和过氧化氢含量升高。然而，高营养浓度可以补偿微塑料暴露处理中狸藻生长性能的降低。微塑料处理显著改变了陷阱相关微生物群落的结构和多样性。本研究的结果表明，除了吸附作用之外，食虫植物还可以在其消化器官中积累微塑料。
