scholarly journals Patterns, dynamics and consequences of microplastic ingestion by the temperate coral, Astrangia poculata

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1905) ◽  
pp. 20190726 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randi D. Rotjan ◽  
Koty H. Sharp ◽  
Anna E. Gauthier ◽  
Rowan Yelton ◽  
Eliya M. Baron Lopez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rhode Island ◽  
Marine Invertebrates ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Coastal Environments ◽  
Monitoring Tool ◽  
Astrangia Poculata ◽  
Temperate Coral ◽  
Inhibit Food Intake ◽  
Aquatic Food ◽  
Behavioural Dynamics

Microplastics (less than 5 mm) are a recognized threat to aquatic food webs because they are ingested at multiple trophic levels and may bioaccumulate. In urban coastal environments, high densities of microplastics may disrupt nutritional intake. However, behavioural dynamics and consequences of microparticle ingestion are still poorly understood. As filter or suspension feeders, benthic marine invertebrates are vulnerable to microplastic ingestion. We explored microplastic ingestion by the temperate coral Astrangia poculata . We detected an average of over 100 microplastic particles per polyp in wild-captured colonies from Rhode Island. In the laboratory, corals were fed microbeads to characterize ingestion preference and retention of microplastics and consequences on feeding behaviour. Corals were fed biofilmed microplastics to test whether plastics serve as vectors for microbes. Ingested microplastics were apparent within the mesenterial tissues of the gastrovascular cavity. Corals preferred microplastic beads and declined subsequent offerings of brine shrimp eggs of the same diameter, suggesting that microplastic ingestion can inhibit food intake. The corals co-ingested Escherichia coli cells with microbeads. These findings detail specific mechanisms by which microplastics threaten corals, but also hint that the coral A. poculata , which has a large coastal range, may serve as a useful bioindicator and monitoring tool for microplastic pollution.

scholarly journals Elevated temperature and browning increase dietary methylmercury, but decrease essential fatty acids at the base of lake food webs

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pianpian Wu ◽  
Martin J. Kainz ◽  
Fernando Valdés ◽  
Siwen Zheng ◽  
Katharina Winter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Fatty Acids ◽  
Organic Matter ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Essential Fatty Acids ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Essential Nutrients ◽  
Aquatic Food Webs ◽  
Aquatic Food

AbstractClimate change scenarios predict increases in temperature and organic matter supply from land to water, which affect trophic transfer of nutrients and contaminants in aquatic food webs. How essential nutrients, such as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and potentially toxic contaminants, such as methylmercury (MeHg), at the base of aquatic food webs will be affected under climate change scenarios, remains unclear. The objective of this outdoor mesocosm study was to examine how increased water temperature and terrestrially-derived dissolved organic matter supply (tDOM; i.e., lake browning), and the interaction of both, will influence MeHg and PUFA in organisms at the base of food webs (i.e. seston; the most edible plankton size for zooplankton) in subalpine lake ecosystems. The interaction of higher temperature and tDOM increased the burden of MeHg in seston (< 40 μm) and larger sized plankton (microplankton; 40–200 μm), while the MeHg content per unit biomass remained stable. However, PUFA decreased in seston, but increased in microplankton, consisting mainly of filamentous algae, which are less readily bioavailable to zooplankton. We revealed elevated dietary exposure to MeHg, yet decreased supply of dietary PUFA to aquatic consumers with increasing temperature and tDOM supply. This experimental study provides evidence that the overall food quality at the base of aquatic food webs deteriorates during ongoing climate change scenarios by increasing the supply of toxic MeHg and lowering the dietary access to essential nutrients of consumers at higher trophic levels.

scholarly journals Season, but not symbiont state, drives microbiome structure in the temperate coral Astrangia poculata

Microbiome ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Koty H. Sharp ◽  
Zoe A. Pratte ◽  
Allison H. Kerwin ◽  
Randi D. Rotjan ◽  
Frank J. Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Astrangia Poculata ◽  
Temperate Coral

scholarly journals Aquatic food web research in mesocosms: a literature survey

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Csenge Póda ◽  
Ferenc Jordán
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Multiple Stressors ◽  
Experimental Testing ◽  
Literature Survey ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Combined Effects ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Aquatic Food ◽  
Emerging Topics ◽  
Web Research

Food web research feeds ecology with elementary theoretical concepts that need controlled experimental testing. Mesocosm facilities offer multiple ways to execute experimental food web research in a rigorous way. We performed a literature survey to overview food web research implementing the mesocosm approach. Our goal was to summarise quantitatively how the mesocosm approach has formerly been used and question how to best utilise mesocosms for the emerging topics in food web research in the future. We suggest increasing the number of replicates, extending the duration of the experiments, involving higher trophic levels and addressing the combined effects of multiple stressors.

scholarly journals Selenium Interactions with Algae: Chemical Processes at Biological Uptake Sites, Bioaccumulation, and Intracellular Metabolism

Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic E. Ponton ◽  
Stephanie D. Graves ◽  
Claude Fortin ◽  
David Janz ◽  
Marc Amyot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Webs ◽  
Mechanistic Model ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Primary Producers ◽  
Organic Selenium ◽  
Selenium Uptake ◽  
Aquatic Food Webs ◽  
Uptake Sites ◽  
Aquatic Food ◽  
Lentic Systems

Selenium (Se) uptake by primary producers is the most variable and important step in determining Se concentrations at higher trophic levels in aquatic food webs. We gathered data available about the Se bioaccumulation at the base of aquatic food webs and analyzed its relationship with Se concentrations in water. This important dataset was separated into lotic and lentic systems to provide a reliable model to estimate Se in primary producers from aqueous exposure. We observed that lentic systems had higher organic selenium and selenite concentrations than in lotic systems and selenate concentrations were higher in lotic environments. Selenium uptake by algae is mostly driven by Se concentrations, speciation and competition with other anions, and is as well influenced by pH. Based on Se species uptake by algae in the laboratory, we proposed an accurate mechanistic model of competition between sulfate and inorganic Se species at algal uptake sites. Intracellular Se transformations and incorporation into selenoproteins as well as the mechanisms through which Se can induce toxicity in algae has also been reviewed. We provided a new tool for risk assessment strategies to better predict accumulation in primary consumers and consequently to higher trophic levels, and we identified some research needs that could fill knowledge gaps.

The Lake Ontario Life Support System

1987 ◽  
Vol 44 (12) ◽  
pp. 2230-2240 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. R. S. Lean ◽  
H-J. Fricker ◽  
M. N. Charlton ◽  
R. L. Cuhel ◽  
F. R. Pick
Keyword(s):  
Primary Productivity ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Lake Ontario ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Phosphorus Concentration ◽  
Nutrient Regeneration ◽  
Particulate Carbon ◽  
Calcium Carbonate Precipitation ◽  
Mixing Processes ◽  
Aquatic Food

Primary productivity provides most of the energy to support aquatic food chains. The rate is not only influenced by available solar radiation but also by temperature, availability of phosphorus, and the influence of physical mixing processes. The special features of Lake Ontario such as changes in phosphorus concentration, calcium carbonate precipitation, and silica deficiency on primary productivity, concentration of particulate carbon, and chlorophyll are discussed. Our lack of understanding of food chain and nutrient regeneration processes is illustrated through our failure to balance carbon production with losses through zooplankton grazing and sedimentation. It was demonstrated, however, that bacteria are not responsible for nutrient regeneration through "mineralization" but nutrients are effectively recycled in the water column at the second and third trophic levels.

scholarly journals Species-specific content of thiamin (vitamin B1) in phytoplankton and the transfer to copepods

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-285
Author(s):  
Emil Fridolfsson ◽  
Elin Lindehoff ◽  
Catherine Legrand ◽  
Samuel Hylander
Keyword(s):  
Vitamin B1 ◽  
Prey Type ◽  
Water Soluble ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
Feeding Experiments ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Aquatic Food ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Important Building Block

Abstract Thiamin (vitamin B1) is primarily produced by bacteria and phytoplankton in aquatic food webs and transferred by ingestion to higher trophic levels. However, much remains unknown regarding production, content and transfer of this water-soluble, essential micronutrient. Hence, the thiamin content of six phytoplankton species from different taxa was investigated, along with the effect of thiamin amendment on thiamin content. Furthermore, thiamin transfer to copepods was estimated in feeding experiments. Prey type, not phytoplankton thiamin content per se, was the most important factor for the transfer of thiamin, as it was lowest from filamentous Cyanophyceae and highest from more easily ingested prey like Dunaliella tertiolecta and Rhodomonas salina. Cyanophyceae had the highest thiamin content of the investigated species, eightfold higher than the lowest. Phytoplankton varied in thiamin content related to the supply of thiamin, where thiamin addition enabled higher thiamin content in some species, while copepod thiamin content was less variable. In all, thiamin transfer is not only dependent on the prey thiamin content, but also the edibility and/or digestibility is of importance. Thiamin is essential for all organisms, and this study constitutes an important building block to understanding the dynamics and transfer of thiamin in the aquatic food web.

scholarly journals Assessing plastic debris in aquatic food webs: what we know and don’t know about uptake and trophic transfer

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 304-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.F. Provencher ◽  
J. Ammendolia ◽  
C.M. Rochman ◽  
M.L. Mallory
Keyword(s):  
Food Webs ◽  
Trophic Transfer ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Global Environmental Issue ◽  
Freshwater Biota ◽  
Aquatic Food

Plastic pollution is now recognized as a global environmental issue that can affect the health of biota and ecosystems. Now that a growing number of species and taxa are known to ingest a diverse range of sizes and types of plastics and retain the plastics in their guts, there are increasing questions relating to the movement of plastics through food webs, and how biota may directly and indirectly ingest plastics. Here, we synthesize what is known from the published, peer-reviewed literature about plastic ingestion by animals and identify critical gaps in our knowledge. We systematically reviewed and examined the literature for studies that reported ingested plastics in marine and freshwater biota at a global scale. Our objective was to inform discussions and future studies regarding what we know about plastic ingestion and fate in food webs. We assessed what regions, ecosystems, and food webs have been studied to date and whether potential information may already be available to assess if trophic transfer of plastics may be occurring. We found 160 relevant publications through 2016. Most studies were concentrated in specific regions and in specific ecosystem types, with freshwater studies being the most limited. Moreover, most studies examined one species at a time with only a handful of regions with multiple taxa examined across multiple studies. Twenty-one percent of the regions have no published data on plastic ingestion to date. Although some studies have measured ingestion in multiple species across trophic levels, few have tested the hypothesis that plastics are transferred across trophic levels. Moreover, none have addressed questions related to biomagnification. While our review suggests that numerous papers have recorded the ingestion of plastics by biota across many trophic levels, habitats, and geographic regions, many questions regarding how or whether biota retain, bioaccumulate, biomagnify, and trophically transfer plastics still need to be addressed.

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