Wei Li-Feng, Liu Xin-Ying, Feng Han-Song, Zhang Jiang-Tao, Liu Xing-Ping
Provincial Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology, School of Forestry, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China.
Insects. 2025 Mar 11;16(3):292. doi: 10.3390/insects16030292.
Insects, being among the most diverse and abundant organisms in terrestrial ecosystems, are inevitably exposed to ubiquitous micro- and nanoplastic contaminants. Although studies on the impact of these contaminants on terrestrial insects are gradually emerging, they remain limited in scope. In this study, we investigated the biological traits (including foraging behavior, food assumption, digging ability, body weight and survival) of the Japanese carpenter ant, , in response to exposure to polystyrene micro- and nanoplastic (PS-M/NP) solutions containing three particle sizes (0.05, 1 and 50 μm) and four concentrations (0.1, 1, 10 and 50 mg/mL). The results showed that worker ants exhibited significant foraging preference and food consumption for non-contaminated solutions in multiple-choice experiments, indicating that worker ants can differentiate and avoid feeding on PS-M/NP-contaminated solutions. Meanwhile, PS-M/NPs significantly reduced the foraging ability of worker ants in multiple-choice and no-choice experiments, with the smallest particle size (0.05 μm) and highest concentration (50 mg/mL) of PS-M/NPs resulting in the longest pre-foraging period, the lowest percentage of licking and the amount of food consumption. In addition, the weight of sand removed by worker ants, the body weight and survival of worker ants showed a dramatic decline with a decrease in particle size, increase in concentration and prolonged in exposure time of PS-M/NP-contaminated solutions. The results of this study confirm that PS-M/NPs have an adverse effect on these worker ants in a particle size, concentration and exposure time-dependent manner, with small particle size, high concentration and longer exposure time being the key factors in decreasing the foraging behavior and biological traits of this insect.
昆虫作为陆地生态系统中种类最多、数量最丰富的生物之一，不可避免地会接触到无处不在的微塑料和纳米塑料污染物。尽管关于这些污染物对陆地昆虫影响的研究逐渐涌现，但范围仍然有限。在本研究中，我们调查了日本木工蚁 的生物学特性（包括觅食行为、食物摄取、挖掘能力、体重和存活率），以响应暴露于含有三种粒径（0.05、1和50μm）和四种浓度（0.1、1、10和50mg/mL）的聚苯乙烯微塑料和纳米塑料（PS-M/NP）溶液的情况。结果表明，在多项选择实验中，工蚁对未受污染的溶液表现出显著的觅食偏好和食物消耗，这表明工蚁能够区分并避免取食受PS-M/NP污染的溶液。同时，在多项选择和无选择实验中，PS-M/NP显著降低了工蚁的觅食能力，其中最小粒径（0.05μm）和最高浓度（50mg/mL）的PS-M/NP导致最长的觅食前期、最低的舔舐百分比和食物消耗量。此外，随着PS-M/NP污染溶液的粒径减小、浓度增加和暴露时间延长，工蚁清除的沙子重量、工蚁的体重和存活率显著下降。本研究结果证实，PS-M/NP以粒径、浓度和暴露时间依赖的方式对这些工蚁产生不利影响，小粒径、高浓度和较长暴露时间是降低这种昆虫觅食行为和生物学特性的关键因素。
