Microplastic leachates inhibit small-scale self-organization in mussel beds.

Gerardo I Zardi, Katy R Nicastro, Stéphanie Lau Truong, Philippe Decorse, Sophie Nozak, Alexandre Chevillot-Biraud, Pierre William Froneman, Fleurine Akoueson, Guillaume Duflos, Laurent Seuront

The Science of the total environment 2024 Mar 01

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Self-organized spatial patterns are increasingly recognized for their contribution to ecosystem functioning. They can improve the ecosystem's ability to respond to perturbation and thus increase its resilience to environmental stress. Plastic pollution has now emerged as major threat to aquatic and terrestrial biota. Under laboratory conditions, we tested whether plastic leachates from pellets collected in the intertidal can impair small-scale, spatial self-organization and byssal threads production of intertidal mussels and whether the effect varied depending on where the pellets come from. Specifically, leachates originating from plastic pellets collected from relatively pristine and polluted areas respectively impaired and inhibited the ability of mussels to self-organize at small-scale and to produce byssal threads compared to control conditions (i.e., seawater without leaching solution). Limitations to natural self-organizing processes and threads formation may translate to a declined capacity of natural ecosystems to avoid tipping points and to a reduced restoration success of disturbed ecosystems. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Citation

Gerardo I Zardi, Katy R Nicastro, Stéphanie Lau Truong, Philippe Decorse, Sophie Nozak, Alexandre Chevillot-Biraud, Pierre William Froneman, Fleurine Akoueson, Guillaume Duflos, Laurent Seuront. Microplastic leachates inhibit small-scale self-organization in mussel beds. The Science of the total environment. 2024 Mar 01;914:169816