Uptake and effects of microplastic textile fibers on freshwater crustacean Daphnia magna
Abstract
Microplastic fibers (MP) from textile weathering and washing are increasingly being recognized as environmental pollutants. The majority of studies on the bioavailability and effects of microplastic focused on small polystyrene spherical plastic particles, while less data are available for fibers and for other materials besides polystyrene. We investigated the ingestion and effects of ground polyethylene terephthalate (PET) textile microfibers (length range: 62-1400 μm, width 31-528 μm, thickness 1-21.5 μm) on the freshwater zooplankton crustacean Daphnia magna after a 48 h exposure and subsequent 24 h of recovery in MP free medium and algae. The majority of ingested fibers by D. magna were around 300 μm, but also some very large twisted MP fibers around 1400 μm were found inside the gut. Exposure to these fibers results in increased mortality of daphnids after 48 h only in the case where daphnids were not pre-fed with algae prior to experiment, but no effect was found when daphnids were fed before the experiments. Regardless of the feeding regime, daphnids were not able to recover from MP exposure after additional 24 h incubation period in a MP free medium with algae. The uptake and effects of PET textile MP on D. magna are presented here for the first time.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The size of the fibers used in the experiment falls within the documented range of fiber sizes found within zooplankton.
“A broad size range of fibers has been found within zooplankton (Jemec et al., 2016;Kim et al., 2021;Klasios & Tseng, 2023;Md Amin et al., 2020), and the size of the fibers used in our experiment falls within this documented range.”
From No Effect of Realistic Concentrations of Polyester Microplastic Fibers on Freshwater Zooplankton Communities (2024) · cites this paper as Jemec et al., 2016
Cites
1 retracted
Lönnstedt, O. M., & Eklöv, P. (2016) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aad8828 · Cited by 316 · see citing works
RetractedMicroplastics as contaminants in the marine environment: A review
Cole, M., Lindeque, P., Halsband, C., & Galloway, T. S. (2011) · Marine Pollution Bulletin · doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.09.025 · Cited by 6,023 · see citing works
Bergmann, M., Gutow, L., & Klages, M. (2015) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-16510-3 · Cited by 3,513 · see citing works
Eerkes-Medrano, D., Thompson, R. C., & Aldridge, D. C. (2015) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2015.02.012 · Cited by 2,638 · see citing works
Browne, M. A., Dissanayake, A., Galloway, T. S., Lowe, D. M., & Thompson, R. C. (2008) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es800249a · Cited by 2,263 · see citing works
Lusher, A. L., McHugh, M., & Thompson, R. C. (2013) · Marine Pollution Bulletin · doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2012.11.028 · Cited by 2,075 · see citing works
Ingestion and transfer of microplastics in the planktonic food web
Setälä, O., Fleming-Lehtinen, V., & Lehtiniemi, M. (2014) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2013.10.013 · Cited by 1,635 · see citing works
Microplastics in freshwater ecosystems: what we know and what we need to know
Wagner, M., Scherer, C., Alvarez-Muñoz, D., Brennholt, N., Bourrain, X., Buchinger, S., Fries, E., Grosbois, C., Klasmeier, J., Marti, T., et al. (2014) · Environmental Sciences Europe · doi:10.1186/s12302-014-0012-7 · Cited by 1,543 · see citing works
Widespread distribution of microplastics in subsurface seawater in the NE Pacific Ocean
Desforges, J.-P. W., Galbraith, M., Dangerfield, N., & Ross, P. S. (2014) · Marine Pollution Bulletin · doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.12.035 · Cited by 1,045 · see citing works
Ingestion of Microplastics by Zooplankton in the Northeast Pacific Ocean
Desforges, J.-P. W., Galbraith, M., & Ross, P. S. (2015) · Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology · doi:10.1007/s00244-015-0172-5 · Cited by 1,019 · see citing works
Besseling, E., Wegner, A., Foekema, E. M., van den Heuvel-Greve, M. J., & Koelmans, A. A. (2013) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es302763x · Cited by 1,012 · see citing works
Rochman, C. M., Hoh, E., Hentschel, B. T., & Kaye, S. (2012) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es303700s · Cited by 975 · see citing works
Plastic contamination in the decapod crustacean Nephrops norvegicus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Murray, F., & Cowie, P. R. (2011) · Marine Pollution Bulletin · doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.03.032 · Cited by 931 · see citing works
Lewin, M. (2006) · CRC Press eBooks · doi:10.1201/9781420015270 · Cited by 916 · see citing works
Contamination of beach sediments of a subalpine lake with microplastic particles
Imhof, H. K., Ivleva, N. P., Schmid, J., Niessner, R., & Laforsch, C. (2013) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.09.001 · Cited by 699 · see citing works
Nano-plastics in the aquatic environment
Mattsson, K., Hansson, L., & Cedervall, T. (2015) · Environmental Science Processes & Impacts · doi:10.1039/c5em00227c · Cited by 605 · see citing works
The filtration apparatus of Cladocera: Filter mesh-sizes and their implications on food selectivity
Geller, W., & M�ller, H. (1981) · Oecologia · doi:10.1007/bf00347591 · Cited by 564 · see citing works
Beyond the ocean: contamination of freshwater ecosystems with (micro-)plastic particles
Dris, R., Imhof, H. K., Sánchez, W., Gaspéri, J., Galgani, F., Tassin, B., & Laforsch, C. (2015) · Environmental Chemistry · doi:10.1071/en14172 · Cited by 560 · see citing works
Sanderson, H. (2003) · Toxicology Letters · doi:10.1016/s0378-4274(03)00257-1 · Cited by 502 · see citing works
Talvitie, J., Heinonen, M., Pääkkönen, J.-P., Vahtera, E., Mikola, A., Setälä, O., & Vahala, R. (2015) · Water Science & Technology · doi:10.2166/wst.2015.360 · Cited by 500 · see citing works
Emissions of microplastic fibers from microfiber fleece during domestic washing
Pirc, U., Vidmar, M., Mozer, A., & Kržan, A. (2016) · Environmental Science and Pollution Research · doi:10.1007/s11356-016-7703-0 · Cited by 397 · see citing works
Self-citationFeeding selectivities and relative ingestion rates of Daphnia and Bosmina1
DeMott, W. R. (1982) · Limnology and Oceanography · doi:10.4319/lo.1982.27.3.0518 · Cited by 351 · see citing works
A comparison of nanoparticle and fine particle uptake by Daphnia magna
Rosenkranz, P., Chaudhry, Q., Stone, V., & Fernandes, T. F. (2009) · Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry · doi:10.1897/08-559.1 · Cited by 330 · see citing works
Dabrunz, A., Duester, L., Prasse, C., Seitz, F., Rosenfeldt, R., Schilde, C., Schaumann, G. E., & Schulz, R. (2011) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020112 · Cited by 208 · cited 2× · see citing works
“magna revealed some new hazardous effects on daphnids that were not revealed in the 48 h exposure period (Dabrunz et al., 2011).”
BackgroundResultDaphnia: Model herbivore, predator and prey
Lampert, W. (2006) · Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics · Cited by 194 · see citing works
Particle rejection by Calanus pacificus: discrimination between similarly sized particles
Huntley, M. E., Barthel, K.-G., & Star, J. L. (1983) · Marine Biology · doi:10.1007/bf00413918 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Direct Observations of Mechanisms Regulating Feeding Behavior of Daphnia, in Lakewater
Burns, C. W. (1968) · Internationale Revue der gesamten Hydrobiologie und Hydrographie · doi:10.1002/iroh.19680530104 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
The Genus Daphnia (including Daphniopsis) (Anomopoda Daphniidae)
Benzie, J. (2005) · Backhuys Publishers eBooks · Cited by 113 · see citing works
NADIN‐HURLEY, C. M., & Duncan, A. (1976) · Freshwater Biology · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2427.1976.tb01595.x · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Standard Operational Procedure
Angga, A. (2013) · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Arbačiauskas, К., & Lampert, W. (2003) · Functional Ecology · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2435.2003.00748.x · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Comparative toxicity of leachates from 52 textiles to Daphnia magna
Dave, G., & Aspegren, P. (2010) · Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety · doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2010.06.010 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
The role of PVP in the bioavailability of Ag from the PVP-stabilized Ag nanoparticle suspension
Romih, T., Kokalj, A. J., Kos, M., et al. (2016) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2016.08.044 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
de Sá, L. C., Oliveira, M., Ribeiro, F., Rocha, T. L., & Futter, M. N. (2018) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.207 · Cited by 1,316 · see citing works
Ding, J., Zhang, S., Razanajatovo, R. M., Zou, H., & Zhu, W. (2018) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2018.03.001 · Cited by 766 · see citing works
Bucci, K., Tulio, M., & Rochman, C. M. (2020) · Ecological Applications · doi:10.1002/eap.2044 · Cited by 658 · see citing works
Rist, S., Baun, A., & Hartmann, N. B. (2017) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2017.05.048 · Cited by 571 · see citing works
Microfibers in oceanic surface waters: a global characterization
Suaria, G., Achtypi, A., Perold, V., Lee, J. R., Pierucci, A., Bornman, T. G., Aliani, S., & Ryan, P. G. (2020) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aay8493 · Cited by 528 · see citing works
Microplastic ingestion by Daphnia magna and its enhancement on algal growth
Canniff, P. M., & Hoang, T. C. (2018) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.176 · Cited by 411 · see citing works
Zimmermann, L., Göttlich, S., Oehlmann, J., Wagner, M., & Völker, C. (2020) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115392 · Cited by 380 · see citing works
Microplastic fibers—Underestimated threat to aquatic organisms
Rebelein, A., Int-Veen, I., Kammann, U., & Scharsack, J. P. (2021) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146045 · Cited by 338 · see citing works
Wu, J., Jiang, R., Lin, W., & Ouyang, G. (2019) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2018.11.055 · Cited by 309 · see citing works
Athey, S. N., & Erdle, L. M. (2022) · Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry · doi:10.1002/etc.5173 · Cited by 289 · see citing works
Sørensen, L., Groven, A. S., Hovsbakken, I. A., Del Puerto, O., Krause, D. F., Sarno, A., & Booth, A. M. (2021) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143170 · Cited by 278 · see citing works
Saavedra, J., Stoll, S., & Slaveykova, V. I. (2019) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2019.05.135 · Cited by 269 · see citing works
Effects of inorganic ions and natural organic matter on the aggregation of nanoplastics
Cai, L., Hu, L., Shi, H., Ye, J., Zhang, Y., & Kim, H. (2018) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.01.052 · Cited by 263 · see citing works
Environmental fate and impacts of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems: A review
Du, S., Zhu, R., Cai, Y., Xu, N., Yap, P.-S., Zhang, Y., He, Y., & Zhang, Y. (2021) · RSC Advances · doi:10.1039/d1ra00880c · Cited by 261 · see citing works
Ali, N., Khan, M. H., Ali, M., Sidra, Ahmad, S., Khan, A., Nabi, G., Ali, F., Bououdina, M., & Kyzas, G. Z. (2024) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169489 · Cited by 262 · see citing works
Acute and chronic effects of polystyrene microplastics on juvenile and adult Daphnia magna
Eltemsah, Y. S., & Bøhn, T. (2019) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2019.07.087 · Cited by 195 · see citing works
Le Guen, C., Suaria, G., Sherley, R. B., Ryan, P. G., Aliani, S., Boehme, L., & Brierley, A. S. (2020) · Environment International · doi:10.1016/j.envint.2019.105303 · Cited by 192 · see citing works
Polystyrene microplastics ingestion induced behavioral effects to the cladoceran Daphnia magna
De Felice, B., Sabatini, V., Antenucci, S., Gattoni, G., Santo, N., Bacchetta, R., Ortenzi, M. A., & Parolini, M. (2019) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.05.115 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
Natural or Synthetic—How Global Trends in Textile Usage Threaten Freshwater Environments
Stone, C., Windsor, F. M., Munday, M., & Durance, I. (2020) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134689 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Mofijur, M., Ahmed, S. F., Rahman, S. M. A., Arafat Siddiki, S. Y., Islam, A. B. M. S., Shahabuddin, M., Ong, H. C., Mahlia, T. M. I., Djavanroodi, F., & Show, P. L. (2021) · Environmental Research · doi:10.1016/j.envres.2021.110857 · Cited by 172 · see citing works
Castro-Castellon, A. T., Horton, A. A., Hughes, J. M. R., Rampley, C., Jeffers, E. S., Bussi, G., & Whitehead, P. (2022) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151638 · Cited by 164 · see citing works
Effects of ingested polystyrene microplastics on brine shrimp, Artemia parthenogenetica
Wang, Y., Zhang, D., Zhang, M., Mu, J., Ding, G., Mao, Z., Cao, Y., Jin, F., Cong, Y., Wang, L., et al. (2019) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2018.10.024 · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Rehse, S., Kloas, W., & Zarfl, C. (2018) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph15020280 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Alava, J. J. (2020) · Frontiers in Marine Science · doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.566101 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Significant decline of Daphnia magna population biomass due to microplastic exposure
Bosker, T., Olthof, G., Vijver, M. G., Baas, J., & Barmentlo, S. H. (2019) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2019.04.067 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
Guilhermino, L., Martins, A., Cunha, S., & Fernandes, J. O. (2021) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147082 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Impacts of polystyrene microplastics on Daphnia magna: A laboratory and a mesocosm study
Aljaibachi, R., Laird, W. B., Stevens, F., & Callaghan, A. (2020) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135800 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Effects of synthetic and natural microfibers on Daphnia magna—Are they dependent on microfiber type?
Kim, D., Kim, H., & An, Y.-J. (2021) · Aquatic Toxicology · doi:10.1016/j.aquatox.2021.105968 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Amariei, G., Rosal, R., Fernández-Piñas, F., & Koelmans, A. A. (2022) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118622 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Liu, Q., Liu, L., Huang, J., Gu, L., Sun, Y., Zhang, L., Lyu, K., & Yang, Z. (2022) · Journal of Hazardous Materials · doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127913 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Leads, R. R., Burnett, K. G., & Weinstein, J. E. (2019) · Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry · doi:10.1002/etc.4545 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Bour, A., Hossain, S., Taylor, M., Sumner, M., & Carney Almroth, B. (2020) · Frontiers in Environmental Science · doi:10.3389/fenvs.2020.00083 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Effects of polyester fibers and car tire particles on freshwater invertebrates
Schell, T., Martinez-Perez, S., Dafouz, R., Hurley, R., Vighi, M., & Rico, A. (2022) · Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry · doi:10.1002/etc.5337 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Mediated food and hydrodynamics on the ingestion of microplastics by Daphnia magna
Colomer, J., Müller, M. F., Barcelona, A., & Serra, T. (2019) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2019.05.034 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Procházková, P., Kalčíková, G., Maršálková, E., Brtnický, M., Gargošová, H. Z., & Kučerík, J. (2024) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e36302 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“This concentration range was selected based on previous studies on the toxicity of MPs to D. magna [32,33,35] as well as the concentration limit stipulated for acute toxicity testing of chemicals according to OECD guideline No. 202 [47].”
MethodKlasios, N., Kim, J. O., & Tseng, M. (2024) · Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry · doi:10.1002/etc.5797 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
“A broad size range of fi bers has been found within zooplankton (Jemec et al., 2016; Kim et al., 2021; Klasios & Tseng, 2023; Md Amin et al., 2020), and the size of the fi bers used in our experiment falls within this documented range.”
BackgroundProcházková, P., Kalčíková, G., Maršálková, E., Zlámalová Gargošová, H., & Kučerík, J. (2025) · Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry · doi:10.1007/s10973-024-12985-0 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Polat, C., Yağcılar, Ç., & Yardımcı, M. (2025) · International Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences · doi:10.29132/ijpas.1811854
- Authors
- Jemec, A., Horvat, P., Kunej, U., Bele, M., & Kržan, A.
- Affiliations
- National Institute of Chemistry (SI)
- University of Ljubljana (SI)
- Venue
- Environmental Pollution
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-12
- Volume
- 219
- Pages
- 201-209
- ISSN
- 0269-7491 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2542415799
- Cited by
- 619
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 36 · 2025: 72 · 2024: 62 · 2023: 84 · 2022: 75 · 2021: 104 · 2020: 67 · 2019: 73 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 14
- FWCI
- 21.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Environmental Pollution (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Derelict Fishing Gear Management System in the Adriatic Region
- European Union
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Environmental Toxicology and Ecotoxicology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Keywords
- microplastic fibers, textile microfibers, polyethylene terephthalate, Daphnia magna, microplastic ingestion, mortality, recovery after exposure, freshwater zooplankton, microplastic pollution
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Daphnia, Eating, Fresh Water, Particle Size, Plastics, Polystyrenes, Textiles, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Zooplankton
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review