Issue 3, 2020

Nanoplastic ingestion induces behavioral disorders in terrestrial snails: trophic transfer effects via vascular plants

Abstract

This study investigated the transfer of plastic debris in a terrestrial environment from the soil to a plant (the mung bean, Vigna radiata), and then to a consumer (the African giant snail, Achatina fulica). Adverse effects of these plastic pollutants on the physiology of the plant and animal were investigated. The mung bean plants were directly exposed to nanoplastics (NPs) by adding NPs to the soil for 10 days. The snails were indirectly exposed by feeding them for 14 days the leaves of mung bean plants that had internalized NPs. We found that NPs decreased their root growth (82.9 and 83.3% of control growth at low and high concentrations, respectively) and led to particle accumulation in the leaves of the mung bean plants. Meanwhile, the growth rate (77.1 and 62.0% of the control rate at low and high concentrations, respectively) and feeding and foraging speeds (63.4 and 54.0% of control speeds at low and high concentrations, respectively) of the snails were decreased by dietary NP intake. This was associated with decreased gut microbiota viability and histological damage to the digestive organ tissues of the snails. Thus, NPs negatively affect the growth of plants and the animals that consume them in terrestrial ecosystems, which could have adverse effects at higher trophic levels.

Graphical abstract: Nanoplastic ingestion induces behavioral disorders in terrestrial snails: trophic transfer effects via vascular plants

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Nov 2019
Accepted
06 Feb 2020
First published
12 Feb 2020

Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2020,7, 975-983

Nanoplastic ingestion induces behavioral disorders in terrestrial snails: trophic transfer effects via vascular plants

Y. Chae and Y. An, Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2020, 7, 975 DOI: 10.1039/C9EN01335K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements