Dataset Information

Tracing the fate of microplastic carbon in the aquatic food web by compound-specific isotope analysis.

ABSTRACT: Increasing abundance of microplastics (MP) in marine and freshwaters is currently one of the greatest environmental concerns. Since plastics are fairly resistant to chemical decomposition, breakdown and reutilization of MP carbon complexes requires microbial activity. Currently, only a few microbial isolates have been shown to degrade MPs, and direct measurements of the fate of the MP carbon are still lacking. We used compound-specific isotope analysis to track the fate of fully labelled 13C-polyethylene (PE) MP carbon across the aquatic microbial-animal interface. Isotopic values of respired CO2 and membrane lipids showed that MP carbon was partly mineralized and partly used for cell growth. Microbial mineralization and assimilation of PE-MP carbon was most active when inoculated microbes were obtained from highly humic waters, which contain recalcitrant substrate sources. Mixotrophic algae (Cryptomonas sp.) and herbivorous zooplankton (Daphnia magna) used microbial mediated PE-MP carbon in their cell membrane fatty acids. Moreover, heteronanoflagellates and mixotrophic algae sequestered MP carbon for synthesizing essential ?-6 and ?-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Thus, this study demonstrates that aquatic micro-organisms can produce, biochemically upgrade, and trophically transfer nutritionally important biomolecules from PE-MP.

SUBMITTER: Taipale SJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6934716 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Tracing the fate of microplastic carbon in the aquatic food web by compound-specific isotope analysis.

Taipale S J SJ Peltomaa E E Kukkonen J V K JVK Kainz M J MJ Kautonen P P Tiirola M M

Scientific reports 20191227 1

Increasing abundance of microplastics (MP) in marine and freshwaters is currently one of the greatest environmental concerns. Since plastics are fairly resistant to chemical decomposition, breakdown and reutilization of MP carbon complexes requires microbial activity. Currently, only a few microbial isolates have been shown to degrade MPs, and direct measurements of the fate of the MP carbon are still lacking. We used compound-specific isotope analysis to track the fate of fully labelled <sup>13 ...[more]

PMID: 31882692

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Project description:The industrial use and widespread application of carbon-based nanomaterials have caused a rapid increase in their production over the last decades. However, toxicity of these materials is not fully known and is still being investigated for potential human and ecological health risks. Detecting carbon-based nanomaterials in the environment using current analytical methods is problematic, making environmental fate and transport modeling a practical way to estimate environmental concentrations and assess potential ecological risks. The Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program 8 (WASP8) is a dynamic, spatially resolved fate and transport model for simulating exposure concentrations in surface waters and sediments. Recently, WASP has been updated to incorporate processes for simulating the fate and transport of nanomaterials including heteroaggregation and phototransformation. This study examines the fate and transport of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) in four aquatic ecosystems in the southeastern United States. Sites include a seepage lake, a coastal plains river, a piedmont river and an unstratified, wetland lake. A hypothetical 50-year release is simulated for each site-nanomaterial pair to analyze nanomaterial distribution between the water column and sediments. For all nanomaterials, 99% of the mass loaded moves though systems of high and low residence times without being heteroaggregated and deposited in the sediments. However, significant accumulation in the sediments does occur over longer periods of time. Results show that GO and rGO had the highest mass fraction in the water column of all four sites. MWCNT were found predominantly in the sediments of the piedmont river and seepage lake but were almost entirely contained in the water column of the coastal plains river and wetland lake. Simulated recovery periods following the release estimate 37+?years for lakes and 1-4?years for rivers to reduce sediment nanomaterial concentrations by 50% suggesting that carbon-based nanomaterials have the potential for long-term ecological effects.

Dataset Information

Tracing the fate of microplastic carbon in the aquatic food web by compound-specific isotope analysis.

Publications

Tracing the fate of microplastic carbon in the aquatic food web by compound-specific isotope analysis.

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