Plastic pollution has posed a significant environmental concern, due to its widespread presence in the aquatic ecosystem. Nanoplastic particles (NPs: <1000 nm) are drawing attention for their potential toxicological implications on aquatic organisms. Nevertheless, the specific effects of NPs on aquatic invertebrates remained inadequately known. This study aimed to assess the effects of 25 nm NPs on the swimming behaviour and gut microbiome composition of Gammarus pulex (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Gammaridae) during a 10-day exposure period at three different concentrations 0 mg/L, 2 mg/L and 20 mg/L. Our results show that NPs treatments slightly increased swimming behaviour in G. pulex. Moreover, exposure to low concentration of NPs showed increased bacterial diversity while, high concentrations resulted in reduced diversity. Taxonomic analysis revealed Rickettsiella and Aeromonas as dominant genera, exhibiting concentration-dependent response to NPs. Our results suggest that the increased swimming activity observed here may indicate potential stimulatory effects of NPs on their locomotor behavior. Additionally, shifts in microbial diversity highlights the sensitivity of the gut microbiota to environmental stressors reflecting potential ecological implications. Nonetheless, further investigation is needed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms driving such responses and to assess the potential consequences for ecological interactions of G. pulex in contaminated environments.
| Accession | PRJNA1119302 |
| Data Type | Raw sequence reads |
| Scope | Multispecies |
| Submission | Registration date: 3-Jun-2024
University of Easttern Finland |
| Relevance | Environmental |
Project Data:
| Resource Name | Number
of Links |
|---|
| Sequence data |
| SRA Experiments | 15 |
| Other datasets |
| BioSample | 15 |