Physiological stress response of the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata exposed to polyethylene microplastics

Effects of Microplastics Exposure on the Acropora sp. Antioxidant, Immunization and Energy Metabolism Enzyme Activities

“…Finally, the solution in the beaker was mixed with 5 L of seawater, and constant stirring prevented MPs from depositing. The final concentration of MPs was 50 mg/L (9.0 × 10 10 particles/L), which is similar to previous reports (Tang et al, 2018;Chantal et al, 2020). The control groups of corals nubbins were maintained in fresh seawater (three tanks).…”

“…Furthermore, the toxicity of MPs increased and the symbiotic algae were reduced with time (Downs et al, 2002). Under different stressors, the chlorophyll content of scleractinian coral decreased temporarily, results that are confirmed by previous studies (Rocha et al, 2015;Long et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2017;Lanctot et al, 2020). Lei believed that the change of chlorophyll content was one of the stress response indicators and that it reflected the density and photosynthetic capacity of the endosymbiont in corals (Lei et al, 2009).…”

Differential enrichment and physiological impacts of ingested microplastics in scleractinian corals in situ

“…It has also been reported that microplastics could be ingested by small-polyp and large-polyp scleractinian corals (Hankins et al, 2018;Reichert et al, 2018;Martin et al, 2019), accumulated in the mesenterial tissue within the coral gut cavity (Hall et al, 2015). Furthermore, it has been considered that highconcentration microplastics in laboratory could affect the important physiological processes of scleractinian corals, such as symbiont recruitment, growth, calcification, feeding, photosynthesis and metabolite profiles, ultimately triggering coral bleaching and tissue necrosis (Okubo et al, 2018;Reichert et al, 2018;Rotjan et al, 2019;Syakti et al, 2019;Lanctot et al, 2020). Our previous work has revealed that high-concentration microplastic addition to the experimental aquaria elicited stress response and suppression of detoxification and immune capacities in the small-polyp scleractinian coral Pocillopora damicornis (Tang et al, 2018).…”

“…Our previous work has revealed that high-concentration microplastic addition to the experimental aquaria elicited stress response and suppression of detoxification and immune capacities in the small-polyp scleractinian coral Pocillopora damicornis (Tang et al, 2018). Likewise, moderate and low-concentration microplastics could also affect the physiological processes of corals, such as prey capture, growth rates, calcification rate, although they may not substantially interfere with the success of critical early life processes (Okubo et al, 2018;Mouchi et al, 2019;Reichert et al, 2019;Lanctot et al, 2020). Because the concentrations of microplastics used in laboratory studies were usually orders of magnitude higher than that in natural coral reef ecosystems, the physiological responses of the organisms exposed to microplastics in laboratory might not reflect the reality encountered in suit (Phuong et al, 2016).…”

Reef‐building corals act as long‐term sink for microplastic

“…Reef-building corals are the main framework builders of the complex three-dimensional reef structures, providing crucial ecosystem services such as shoreline protection, livelihoods for more than 500 million people, and habitat for a large diversity of organisms (Fisher et al, 2015). Microplastic pollution has been detected in reef environments across the tropics (Huang et al, 2021 and references within) and is suspected to constitute an insidious stressor for corals (Chapron et al, 2018;Lanctôt et al, 2020;Reichert et al, 2019).…”