Institut für Mikrobiologie, Universität Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, University of Georgia, Savannah, GA, 31411, USA.
Arch Environ Contam Toxicol. 2022 Aug;83(2):129-141. doi: 10.1007/s00244-022-00948-1. Epub 2022 Jul 28.
The goal of our study was to examine the effects of low abundances of nylon fibers on feeding rates of calanoid copepods (Crustacea, Copepoda) and doliolids (Tunicata, Thaliacea) in the presence of diatoms at near environmental concentration levels. In addition, we examined microscopically the fecal pellets produced by copepods and doliolids in the presence of fibers. Adult females of the calanoid Eucalanus pileatus and early gonozooids of Dolioletta gegenbauri (both of similar dry weight) cleared the diatom Rhizosolenia alata at similar rates. Nylon fibers were cleared at higher rates by Dolioletta gegenbauri compared to Eucalanus pileatus. Examination of fecal pellets revealed that copepods and doliolids could ingest the about 300 µm long fibers. The latter also ingested the occasionally occurring fibers of > 1 mm length. It appears that in seawater fiber abundances of about seven fibers ml did not have a negative effect on feeding of either E. pileatus or D. gegenbauri. As doliolids and copepods remove plastic fibers from seawater by packing them into their pellets, they might play a role in the reduction of microplastic pollution and the microplastic transfer from the water column to the seafloor. Calanoid copepods may limit ingesting fibers by not perceiving them, as compared to doliolids which do not seem to be able to avoid ingesting them.
我们的研究目的是检验在接近环境浓度水平下，当存在硅藻时，低丰度的尼龙纤维对桡足类（甲壳纲，桡足目）和桶水母类（被囊动物，桶形目）摄食率的影响。此外，我们还观察了纤维存在下桡足类和桶水母类所产生的粪便颗粒。成年雌性 Eucalanus pileatus 和早期的 Dolioletta gegenbauri 生殖腺（两者的干重相似）以相似的速率清除硅藻 Rhizosolenia alata。与 Eucalanus pileatus 相比，Dolioletta gegenbauri 能更快地清除尼龙纤维。对粪便颗粒的检查表明，桡足类和桶水母类可以摄入长约 300μm 的纤维。后者还会摄入偶尔出现的长度超过 1mm 的纤维。似乎在海水中，纤维丰度约为 7 根 ml 对 E. pileatus 或 D. gegenbauri 的摄食没有负面影响。由于桶水母类和桡足类通过将塑料纤维包装到粪便颗粒中来从海水中去除这些纤维，它们可能在减少微塑料污染和将微塑料从水柱转移到海底方面发挥作用。与似乎无法避免摄入纤维的桶水母类相比，桡足类可能通过不感知纤维来限制摄入纤维。
