Microplastics in freshwater sediments: Effects on benthic invertebrate communities and ecosystem functioning assessed in artificial streams
Abstract
The high levels of microplastics (MPs) found in freshwaters, particularly in riverine sediments, may impose a threat to the macroinvertebrate communities with possible consequences at ecosystem-level. The present study aimed to assess the effects of a mixture of different sizes of polyethylene microplastics (PE-MPs) on the composition and structure of macroinvertebrate communities and key-functions, such as primary production and leaf litter decomposition. MPs were mixed in the sediment at three different concentrations (0.1, 1, and 10 g kg-1) already found in freshwater sediments to enhance the relevance of the work. After eight days of exposure to PE-MPs, the observed changes in macroinvertebrate community structure were mostly due to the reduction in the abundance of deposit-feeders and grazers that were reduced by ca 31-50% and 34-39%, in the two highest MPs concentrations respectively, in comparison with the control treatment after 8 days of exposure. MPs internal concentrations were detected only in organisms exposed to plastic particles within artificial streams with chironomids and mayflies presenting higher MPs internal levels (average of 115 particles/individual found in chironomids, 166/individual for Baetis sp. and 415 particles/individual for Ephemerella sp.) suggesting higher ingestion of plastic microparticles. Nevertheless, the alterations in the community structure did not translate into impairments in the functional endpoints analysed, leaf litter decomposition and primary production, that were expected due to possible sub-lethal effects (e.g., feeding inhibition) on detritivores and grazers. This study represents one of the few assessments of MPs effects on freshwater benthic macroinvertebrate community structure and the first that simultaneously considered ecosystem-level functional endpoints. Further research combining different microplastics and longer exposure periods are needed to raise knowledge on potential ecological consequences of MPs to freshwaters.
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Tested microplastic morphologies in micro- and mesocosm studies have been mostly limited to fragments and spheres, with only Rauchschwalbe et al. (2022) including fibrous particles.
“While different polymer types are well represented in micro-and mesocosm studies (Aljaibachi et al., 2020;Rauchschwalbe et al., 2022;Silva et al., 2022;Yıldız et al., 2022), the tested microplastic morphologies have been mostly limited to fragments and spheres, with only Rauchschwalbe et al. (2022) including fibrous particles.”
From No Effect of Realistic Concentrations of Polyester Microplastic Fibers on Freshwater Zooplankton Communities (2024) · cites this paper as Silva et al., 2022
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“For example, the structure of a benthic macroinvertebrate community was altered via reductions in deposit feeders and grazers in mesocosms exposed to high concentrations of polyethylene microplastic fragments (Silva et al., 2022).”
BackgroundInfluential
- Authors
- Silva, C. J. M., Machado, A. L., Campos, D., Rodrigues, A. C. M., Patrício Silva, A. L., Soares, A. M. V. M., & Pestana, J. L. T.
- Affiliations
- Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar (PT)
- Corresponding author
- Machado, Ana Luísa
- ORCID
- Venue
- Science of The Total Environment
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-01
- Volume
- 804
- Pages
- 150118
- ISSN
- 0048-9697 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3196989158
- Cited by
- 89
- References
- 77
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 16
- FWCI
- 3.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- The Science of The Total Environment (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity and ecology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Environmental Toxicology and Ecotoxicology
- Keywords
- microplastics, polyethylene microplastics, freshwater sediments, benthic macroinvertebrates, community structure, leaf litter decomposition, primary production, deposit feeding, grazing, Chironomidae, Baetis, Ephemerella, plastic ingestion, artificial streams, ecosystem functioning
- MeSH terms
- Microplastics, Animals, Fresh Water, Invertebrates, Plastics, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Ecosystem, Rivers, Ephemeroptera
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