Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE), Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal.
Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.
Environ Res. 2022 Sep;212(Pt D):113476. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.113476. Epub 2022 May 22.
The sedimentation of micro and nanosized plastics is of considerable environmental relevance and the need to assess its sublethal effects to biota increasingly recognized. In their majority, as bottom, non-selective grazers, independent-feeding young life stages of amphibians, an already severely endangered worldwide group, may be particularly vulnerable to sedimented plastics. Alongside, they may be good model organisms for the assessment of the effects of micro(nano)plastics (MNPs) through ingestion. However, to our knowledge, few studies have assessed amphibians' exposure to MNPs through contaminated food or its effects in feeding behaviour assays. The available studies reveal a lack of consistent methodology: organisms, food type, media of exposure, or exposure conditions (temperature and light) in the assessment of effects. This perspective article, will address major differences found in the available studies, identifying type, size and concentrations of the polymers tested, species, and observed effects, aiming to highlight the importance of feeding exposure assays when attempting to evaluate the effect of MNPs in amphibians.
微纳米塑料的沉降具有相当大的环境相关性，越来越多的人认识到需要评估其对生物的亚致死影响。在大多数情况下，作为底部的非选择性食草动物，已经在全球范围内严重濒危的两栖动物的独立进食的幼体生命阶段，可能特别容易受到沉降塑料的影响。此外，它们可能是评估通过摄食摄入微（纳米）塑料（MNPs）影响的良好模型生物。然而，据我们所知，很少有研究通过受污染的食物评估两栖动物接触 MNPs 的情况，或在摄食行为测定中评估其效果。现有的研究表明，在评估影响方面，缺乏一致的方法：生物、食物类型、暴露介质或暴露条件（温度和光照）。这篇观点文章将讨论现有研究中发现的主要差异，确定测试聚合物的类型、大小和浓度、物种以及观察到的影响，旨在强调在尝试评估 MNPs 对两栖动物的影响时，摄食暴露测定的重要性。
