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Impacts of warming and nutrient enrichment on the fate and effects of nanoplastics in a freshwater food web

Nature Water volume 2, pages 1207–1217 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Freshwater ecosystems face numerous pressures including climate-induced warming, eutrophication and contaminants such as nanoplastics (NPs), which have emerged as a major environmental concern. Despite evidence of harmful effects on freshwater biota, critical knowledge gaps persist regarding the fate and impacts of NP fate and impacts in natural aquatic systems. Here we conducted a 28-day mesocosm experiment in freshwater pond communities, investigating polystyrene NP fate and effects under ambient, warmed and nutrient-enriched conditions. Using palladium-doped polystyrene NPs for precise tracking, we observed NP presence in all ecological compartments, mainly accumulating in biofilms (~97%). NP accumulation was influenced by both nutrient enrichment and warming, with warming significantly increasing NP concentration in fish guts. NPs decreased macroinvertebrate abundance, attributed to the decline in benthic caddisfly larvae, which graze on the NP-rich biofilm. This research represents a important advancement in our understanding of plastic pollution impacts, revealing the complex interplay between NP pollution and global environmental change factors in freshwater ecosystems.

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Fig. 1: Overview of the experimental design.
Fig. 2: Nanoplastic concentrations in seston and biofilms.
Fig. 3: Nanoplastic concentrations in backswimmers and caddisfly larvae after 28 days exposure under ambient, warmed and nutrient-enriched conditions.
Fig. 4: Nanoplastic concentrations in fish guts and bodies for males and females after 28 days exposure under ambient, warmed and nutrient-enriched conditions.
Fig. 5: Interaction plots for the biological response variables measured in our experiment recorded after 28 days comparing scenarios with and without nanoplastics under ambient, warmed and nutrient-enriched conditions.
Fig. 6: Interaction plot for caddisfly abundance.

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Statistical source data can be accessed via figshare at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.26067691 (ref. 68).

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this project came from the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Endeavour Programme (C03X1802) to K.S.S. and the Swiss National Science Foundation (PCEFP2 186856) to D.M.M. We are grateful to S. Morrow for technical assistance with the ICP-MS work and to L. Holding for assistance with field work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Αmy Ockenden, Melanie Kah & Kevin S. Simon

  2. Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Denise M. Mitrano

  3. School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Louis A. Tremblay

  4. Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand

    Louis A. Tremblay

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  1. Αmy Ockenden
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Contributions

A.O. designed the study, collected and analysed the data and wrote the paper. D.M.M. provided the resources used in this study and edited the paper. M.K. edited the paper. L.A.T. edited the paper. K.S.S. designed the study, collected the data, acquired funding and edited the paper. All authors approved the final version of the paper.

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Correspondence to Αmy Ockenden.

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Nature Water thanks Timothy Hoellein and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–7 and Tables 1–4.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 2

Statistical source data for nanoplastic concentrations in seston and biofilms.

Source Data Fig. 3

Statistical source data for nanoplastic concentrations in backswimmers and caddisfly larvae.

Source Data Fig. 4

Statistical source data for nanoplastic concentrations in fish guts and bodies.

Source Data Fig. 5

Statistical source data for ecological effects on all biological response variables.

Source Data Fig. 6

Statistical source data for caddisfly abundance.

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Ockenden, Α., Mitrano, D.M., Kah, M. et al. Impacts of warming and nutrient enrichment on the fate and effects of nanoplastics in a freshwater food web. Nat Water 2, 1207–1217 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-024-00334-2

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