@inproceedings{01H2R0AEB06SN96Y9W1AZGVN8R,
  abstract     = {{Plastic pollution is one of today’s most visible environmental problems, and its many aspects have been widely discussed in the media. However, the impact of plastics on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, as well as on human health, still remain largely unclear. Especially regarding nanoplastics (NPs, dimensions < 1 μm), a knowledge gap exists. Nevertheless, it is assumed that the exposure route, extent and rate of bio-uptake and bioaccumulation, and the nature of adverse effects will differ from those of microplastics, due to the reactivity features of nanoscale entities and the fact that they are small enough to cross biological barriers.
The aim of the study was to look at the impact of nanoplastics on the growth cycle of marine phytoplankton species, and the effect on the production of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) of the phytoplankton. EPS was analyzed as a proxy for aggregate formation as its sticky properties can induce hetero-aggregation, and it is a known stress-response.
The algae species used for the experiment was Rhodomonas salina, a relevant algal species for the North Sea food web. The assumed realistic concentrations of nanoplastics are derived from micro-plastic concentration data in the North-Sea and the conversion factor of 10E+14 as proposed by Besseling et al., 2019. This factor is based on mass conservation principles, for the fragmentation of spherical particles with a size of > 0.1 mm – 5 mm into100 nm particles. The nanoplastics used are fragmented aged polyethylene terephthalate(PET, d = 0.68 μm, D
=1.0 μm) and fragmented polypropylene (PP, d = 1.7 μm, D=2.9μm), produced by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission in Milano.
We observed a significantly lower total cell-yield at the end of the experiment after exposure to both aged PET and PP. For PP, the total cell-yield decreased with increasing NP concentration. For PET, the total cell-yield increased with increasing NP concentration, but was always lower than the cell-yield of the control group. Also, an increase in EPS production is observed. This research gives valuable insights on the increased EPS production and possible aggregate formation after exposure to NPs. This can both affect the density and thus the location of the algae in the water column, as the availability of the algae to primary consumers, as their size increases. It also affects the stability, and thus the fate and transport of the nanoplastics in the water-column.}},
  articleno    = {{P-Mo080}},
  author       = {{Sioen, Marie and Vercauteren, Maaike and Blust, Ronny and Town, Raewyn M. and Janssen, Colin and Asselman, Jana}},
  booktitle    = {{SETAC Europe, 33rd Annual Meeting, Abstracts}},
  issn         = {{2309-8031}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  location     = {{Dublin, Ireland & online}},
  pages        = {{P-Mo080:90--P-Mo080:91}},
  title        = {{Interaction of marine algae and nanoplastics : impact on growth and EPS production}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}