Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Variability in Toxicity of Plastic Leachates as a Function of Weathering and Polymer Type: A Screening Study with the Copepod Nitocra spinipes
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Environmental Science.
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Environmental Science.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2562-7339
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Environmental Science.
Number of Authors: 32021 (English)In: The Biological Bulletin, ISSN 0006-3185, E-ISSN 1939-8697, Vol. 240, no 3, p. 191-199Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The production and use of plastic over many decades has resulted in its accumulation in the world’s oceans. Plastic debris poses a range of potential risks to the marine environment and its biota. Especially, the potential hazards of small plastic debris and chemicals associated with plastic have not been extensively studied. When buoyant plastic is exposed to ultraviolet radiation, it will slowly degrade and leach chemicals into surrounding waters. These leachates can include additives, sorbed organic pollutants, and degradation products of the plastic polymers. While most hazard assessments have focused on studying adverse effects due to the uptake of plastic, toxicity studies of the leachates of plastics are less common. To begin to address this knowledge gap, we studied the acute toxicity of leachates from diverse plastics in the harpacticoid copepod Nitocra spinipes. Our results show that leachates caused a higher toxicity after plastic was exposed to ultraviolet light compared to leaching in darkness. We observed differences in toxicity for different polymer types: polyvinyl chloride and polypropylene resulted in the most toxic leachates, while polystyrene and poly[ethylene terephthalate] were least toxic. Furthermore, we observed increased toxicity of leachates from some plastics that had been weathered in the real marine environment compared to matching new materials. Our results indicate that both weathering condition and polymer type influence the toxicity of plastic leachates.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2021. Vol. 240, no 3, p. 191-199
National Category
Biological Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-195774DOI: 10.1086/714506ISI: 000649476500001PubMedID: 34129442OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-195774DiVA, id: diva2:1587860
Available from: 2021-08-25 Created: 2021-08-25 Last updated: 2022-02-25Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textPubMed

Authority records

Gewert, BeritMacLeod, MatthewBreitholtz, Magnus

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Gewert, BeritMacLeod, MatthewBreitholtz, Magnus
By organisation
Department of Environmental Science
In the same journal
The Biological Bulletin
Biological Sciences

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn
Total: 37 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf