Plastics everywhere: first evidence of polystyrene fragments inside the common Antarctic collembolan Cryptopygus antarcticus
There is evidence and serious concern that microplastics have reached the most remote regions of the planet, but how far have they travelled in terrestrial ecosystems? This study presents the first field-based evidence of plastic ingestion by a common and central component of Antarctic terrestrial f...
Published in: | Biology Letters |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
The Royal Society
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7336848/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32574531 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0093 |
id |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:7336848 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:7336848 2023-05-15T13:41:50+02:00 Plastics everywhere: first evidence of polystyrene fragments inside the common Antarctic collembolan Cryptopygus antarcticus Bergami, Elisa Rota, Emilia Caruso, Tancredi Birarda, Giovanni Vaccari, Lisa Corsi, Ilaria 2020-06 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7336848/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32574531 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0093 en eng The Royal Society http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7336848/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32574531 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0093 © 2020 The Author(s) https://royalsociety.org/-/media/journals/author/Licence-to-Publish-20062019-final.pdfhttps://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Biol Lett Global Change Biology Text 2020 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0093 2021-06-06T00:28:15Z There is evidence and serious concern that microplastics have reached the most remote regions of the planet, but how far have they travelled in terrestrial ecosystems? This study presents the first field-based evidence of plastic ingestion by a common and central component of Antarctic terrestrial food webs, the collembolan Cryptopygus antarcticus. A large piece of polystyrene (PS) foam (34 × 31 × 5 cm) covered by microalgae, moss, lichens and microfauna was found in a fellfield along the shores of the Fildes Peninsula (King George Island). The application of an improved enzymatic digestion coupled with Fourier transform infrared microscopy (µ-FTIR), unequivocally detected traces of PS (less than 100 µm) in the gut of the collembolans associated with the PS foam and documented their ability to ingest plastic. Plastics are thus entering the short Antarctic terrestrial food webs and represent a new potential stressor to polar ecosystems already facing climate change and increasing human activities. Future research should explore the effects of plastics on the composition, structure and functions of polar terrestrial biota. Text Antarc* Antarctic antarcticus Cryptopygus antarcticus King George Island PubMed Central (PMC) Antarctic Fildes ENVELOPE(-58.817,-58.817,-62.217,-62.217) Fildes peninsula ENVELOPE(-58.948,-58.948,-62.182,-62.182) King George Island Biology Letters 16 6 20200093 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PubMed Central (PMC) |
op_collection_id |
ftpubmed |
language |
English |
topic |
Global Change Biology |
spellingShingle |
Global Change Biology Bergami, Elisa Rota, Emilia Caruso, Tancredi Birarda, Giovanni Vaccari, Lisa Corsi, Ilaria Plastics everywhere: first evidence of polystyrene fragments inside the common Antarctic collembolan Cryptopygus antarcticus |
topic_facet |
Global Change Biology |
description |
There is evidence and serious concern that microplastics have reached the most remote regions of the planet, but how far have they travelled in terrestrial ecosystems? This study presents the first field-based evidence of plastic ingestion by a common and central component of Antarctic terrestrial food webs, the collembolan Cryptopygus antarcticus. A large piece of polystyrene (PS) foam (34 × 31 × 5 cm) covered by microalgae, moss, lichens and microfauna was found in a fellfield along the shores of the Fildes Peninsula (King George Island). The application of an improved enzymatic digestion coupled with Fourier transform infrared microscopy (µ-FTIR), unequivocally detected traces of PS (less than 100 µm) in the gut of the collembolans associated with the PS foam and documented their ability to ingest plastic. Plastics are thus entering the short Antarctic terrestrial food webs and represent a new potential stressor to polar ecosystems already facing climate change and increasing human activities. Future research should explore the effects of plastics on the composition, structure and functions of polar terrestrial biota. |
format |
Text |
author |
Bergami, Elisa Rota, Emilia Caruso, Tancredi Birarda, Giovanni Vaccari, Lisa Corsi, Ilaria |
author_facet |
Bergami, Elisa Rota, Emilia Caruso, Tancredi Birarda, Giovanni Vaccari, Lisa Corsi, Ilaria |
author_sort |
Bergami, Elisa |
title |
Plastics everywhere: first evidence of polystyrene fragments inside the common Antarctic collembolan Cryptopygus antarcticus |
title_short |
Plastics everywhere: first evidence of polystyrene fragments inside the common Antarctic collembolan Cryptopygus antarcticus |
title_full |
Plastics everywhere: first evidence of polystyrene fragments inside the common Antarctic collembolan Cryptopygus antarcticus |
title_fullStr |
Plastics everywhere: first evidence of polystyrene fragments inside the common Antarctic collembolan Cryptopygus antarcticus |
title_full_unstemmed |
Plastics everywhere: first evidence of polystyrene fragments inside the common Antarctic collembolan Cryptopygus antarcticus |
title_sort |
plastics everywhere: first evidence of polystyrene fragments inside the common antarctic collembolan cryptopygus antarcticus |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7336848/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32574531 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0093 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-58.817,-58.817,-62.217,-62.217) ENVELOPE(-58.948,-58.948,-62.182,-62.182) |
geographic |
Antarctic Fildes Fildes peninsula King George Island |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Fildes Fildes peninsula King George Island |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic antarcticus Cryptopygus antarcticus King George Island |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic antarcticus Cryptopygus antarcticus King George Island |
op_source |
Biol Lett |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7336848/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32574531 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0093 |
op_rights |
© 2020 The Author(s) https://royalsociety.org/-/media/journals/author/Licence-to-Publish-20062019-final.pdfhttps://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0093 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
20200093 |
_version_ |
1766159078647660544 |