1. Microplastics impair the feeding performance of a Mediterranean habitat-forming coral
- Author
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Luigi Musco, Arturo Zenone, Tomás Vega Fernández, Fiorella Prada, Beatrice Savinelli, Carlo Pipitone, Fabio Badalamenti, N. Galasso, Giovanni D’Anna, Savinelli, B., Vega Fernandez, T., Galasso, N. M., D'Anna, G., Pipitone, C., Prada, F., Zenone, A., Badalamenti, F., Musco, L., Savinelli B., Vega Fernandez T., Galasso N.M., D'Anna G., Pipitone C., Prada F., Zenone A., Badalamenti F., and Musco L.
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,Mediterranean climate ,Astroides calycularis ,Microplastics ,food.ingredient ,Coral ,Anthropogenic impact ,Aquatic Science ,Biology ,Oceanography ,Bioconstructor ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Preference ,Mediterranean sea ,food ,Mediterranean Sea ,Animals ,Behaviour ,Selectivity ,14. Life underwater ,Ecosystem ,Animal ,Ecology ,010604 marine biology & hydrobiology ,Aquatic ecosystem ,Microplastic ,General Medicine ,Feeding Behavior ,Plankton ,Anthozoa ,Pollution ,Habitat ,Water Pollutants, Chemical ,Environmental Monitoring - Abstract
The impact of plastic debris, and in particular of microplastics (here referred as particles smaller than 5 mm) on aquatic environments has now become a topic of raising concern. Microplastics are particularly abundant in the Mediterranean Sea, potentially exerting substantial pressures on marine organisms at different levels of organization. Ingestion of microplastics has been observed in a large number of marine species. The aim of this work is to test if microplastics produce a feeding impairment in Astroides calycularis, a shallow water, habitat-forming coral endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. Our findings suggest a lack of any avoidance mechanism allowing the polyps to discern between food items and microplastics when occurring simultaneously. Moreover, polyps spend a considerable amount of time on handling microplastic particles. As a consequence, microplastics impair the feeding efficiency in A. calycularis, since polyps may not be fully able to profit from the drifting plankton aggregations. Therefore, we suggest that microplastics can cause a reduction of fitness in A. calycularis, and presumably also in other species characterized by suspension feeding strategy.
- Published
- 2019