A study by the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country has demonstrated that 15 days’ exposure to microplastics affects some freshwater systems.
In collaboration with the National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC) in Madrid, the UPV/EHU’s Stream Ecology research group has conducted two parallel studies to look at how the larvae of one freshwater amphibian and one invertebrate evolved during 15 days’ exposure to microplastics at different concentrations. The highest concentrations used had lethal effects and the intermediate ones reduced the growth of the amphibians.
Concern about contamination caused by microplastics is growing; owing to their abundance, ubiquity and persistence over time, microplastics pose a potential risk for organisms and ecosystems. Yet studies into their distribution in freshwater systems, in both lakes and rivers, and their effects on the organisms in these waters are few and far between, and there is very little information about their potential effect on the functioning of these ecosystems.
In this context, in collaboration with the National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC-National Research Council) in Madrid, the UPV/EHU’s Stream Ecology research group has studied “the effects of microplastics on freshwater ecosystems and on two of the most important groups of organisms that live in them: amphibians and invertebrates”, explained Naiara López-Rojo, researcher in the UPV/EHU group. To do this they conducted lab experiments in which they replicated the conditions of the rivers and ponds where these animals live, and exposed them to different concentrations of fluorescent microplastics: “Replicas without microplastics (control), at a low, at an intermediate and at a high concentration, while the remaining characteristics were identical (light, temperature, etc.).”
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