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⁻¹ 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.

我们研究的目的是检查在接近环境浓度水平的硅藻存在下，低丰度的尼龙纤维对葫芦科桡足类（甲壳纲、桡足类）和多利阿科动物（Tunicata、Thaliacea）摄食率的影响。此外，我们在显微镜下检查了桡足类和多利奥里德在存在纤维的情况下产生的粪便颗粒。calanoid Eucalanus piteatus 的成年雌性和 Dolioletta gegenbauri的早期gonozooids（两者的干重相似）以相似的速率清除了硅藻Rhizosolenia alata 。与Eucalanus piteatus相比，Dolioletta gegenbauri以更高的速率清除尼龙纤维. 对粪便颗粒的检查表明，桡足类和多利奥里德可以摄取约 300 µm 长的纤维。后者还摄取了偶尔出现的 > 1 mm 长度的纤维。似乎在海水中富含约七种纤维ml ^-1的纤维对E.pileatus或D. gegenbauri的摄食没有负面影响。由于多利奥里德和桡足类通过将塑料纤维包装到颗粒中来去除海水中的塑料纤维，它们可能在减少微塑料污染和微塑料从水柱到海底的转移方面发挥作用。Calanoid 桡足类可能会通过不感知纤维来限制摄入纤维，而与似乎无法避免摄入纤维的多利奥动物相比。