Short-term ingestion and tissue incorporation of Polystyrene microplastic in the scleractinian coral Porites porites

Grillo, Jose F.; Sabino, Marcos A.; Ramos, Ruth

doi:10.1016/j.rsma.2021.101697

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Only the highest concentration (i.e., 2,500 particles L -1 ), which was chosen as a high pollution scenario, had detectable impacts on the physiology of the tested species and caused both negative (decreased photosynthetic efficiency) and positive (lower bleaching and mortality) effects. This is in line with previous studies showing that microplastics have only small effects when tested for common pollution scenarios (Berry et al, 2019;Grillo et al, 2021). Even though the rough surface and complex shape of coral colonies increase the chances to get in contact with microplastics in the environment (de Smit et al, 2021;Lim et al, 2020), at low environmental concentrations these coincidences are probably infrequent and largely stochastic.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Interactive effects of microplastic pollution and heat stress on reef-building corals

Reichert

Tirpitz

Anand

et al. 2021

Environmental Pollution

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Interactive effects of microplastic pollution and heat stress on reef-building corals

Reichert

Tirpitz

Anand

et al. 2021

Environmental Pollution

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“…In this fecal addition experiment, feces placed on coral fragments mimicked intact feces, yet in situ , fecal pellets sometimes fall apart in the water column ( 13 ), resulting in the release of silt to rice grain-sized particles. Such particle sizes may be less likely to cause smothering of coral polyps, and might be more readily removed or even taken up and digested by corals ( 73, 74 ); this should be experimentally tested. We did not examine whether coral fragments in this experiment consumed parts of fecal pellets; further, a lack of data on coprophagy behavior by Pocillopora spp., and corals in general, limits estimates of the likelihood and frequency with which corals may consume fish feces and associated microbiota.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer feces impact coral health in guild-specific ways

Grupstra

Howe‐Kerr

Meulen

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Microbiota from consumer feces can impact resource species in guild-specific ways. We tested the effect of fresh and heat-killed feces from corallivorous (coral-eating) and grazer/detritivorous fish on coral health and found that fresh grazer/detritivore feces, but not fresh corallivore feces, affected coral health in detrimental ways compared to heat-killed feces, suggesting that microbiota in grazer/detritivore feces were harmful. Bacterial diversity across 10 fish species suggests our experimental findings are generalizable to consumer guild: corallivore feces contained more coral-associated bacteria, and lower abundances of the coral pathogen, Vibrio coralliilyticus. These findings recontextualize the ecological roles of consumers on coral reefs: although herbivores support coral dominance through removal of algal competitors, they also disperse coral pathogens. Corallivore predation can wound corals, yet their feces contain potentially beneficial coral- associated bacteria, supporting the hypothesized role of corallivores in coral symbiont dispersal. Such consumer-mediated microbial dispersal as demonstrated here has broad implications for environmental management.

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“…damicornis (50 mg/L (size 1 µm) for 12 h) [89]. Finally, short-term exposure to polystyrene particles did not significantly change the CAT activity and melanin content of Porites porites (1-1000 mg/L for 96 h) [90] and the chlorophyll concentration in symbionts of Poc. damicornis (50 mg/L (size 1 µm) for 24 h) [89], and medium-term exposure to microfibres and polystyrene (0.1 mg/L (size 0.05-1 cm and 500-1000 µm) for 12 days) did not change the respiration rate of Acropora sp.…”

mentioning

confidence: 85%

What are the toxicity thresholds of chemical pollutants for tropical reef-building corals? A systematic review

et al. 2023

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Background Tropical coral reefs cover only ca. 0.1% of the Earth’s surface but harbour exceptional marine biodiversity and provide vital ecosystem services to millions of people living nearby. They are currently threatened by global (e.g. climate change) and local (e.g. chemical pollution) stressors that interact in multiple ways. While global stressors cannot be mitigated by local actions alone, local stressors can be reduced through ecosystem management. Here, we aimed to systematically review experimental studies assessing the toxicity of chemical pollutants to tropical reef-building corals to generate accessible and usable knowledge and data that can be used to calculate measurement endpoints in ecological risk assessment. From the quantitative estimates of effects, we determined toxicity thresholds as the highest exposures tested at which no statistically significant adverse effects were observed, and we compared them to regulatory predicted no effect concentrations for the protection of marine organisms, to assess whether these reference values are indeed protective of corals. Methods The evidence was taken from a systematic map of the impacts of chemicals arising from human activity on tropical reef-building corals published in 2021. All studies in the map database corresponding to the knowledge cluster “Evidence on the ecotoxicological effects of chemicals on corals” were selected. To identify subsequently published literature, the search was updated using a subset of the search string used for the systematic map. Titles, abstracts and full-texts were screened according to the criteria defining the selected cluster of the map. Because the eligibility criteria for the systematic review are narrower than the criteria used to define the cluster in the systematic map, additional screening was performed. Studies included were critically appraised and each study was rated as low, unclear, medium, or high risk of bias. Data were extracted from the studies and synthesised according to a strategy dependent on the type of exposure and outcome. Review findings The systematic review reports the known effects of chemical exposures on corals from 847 studies corresponding to 181 articles. A total of 697 studies (161 articles) were included in the quantitative synthesis and 150 studies (50 articles) in the narrative synthesis of the findings. The quantitative synthesis records the effects of 2706 exposure concentrations-durations of 164 chemicals or mixtures of chemicals, and identifies 105 toxicity thresholds corresponding to 56 chemicals or mixtures of chemicals. When toxicity thresholds were compared to reference values set for the protection of marine organisms by environmental agencies, the reference values appear to be protective of corals for all but three chemicals assessed: the metal copper and the pesticides diuron and irgarol 1051. Conclusions This open-access database of known ecotoxicological effects of chemical exposures on corals can assist managers in the ecological risk assessment of chemicals, by allowing easy determination of various ecotoxicological thresholds. Several limitations of the toxicity tests synthesised here were noted (in particular the lack of measurement of effective concentrations for more than half of the studies). Overall, most of the currently available data on coral toxicity should be replicated independently and extended to corals from less studied geographical regions and functional groups.

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Short-term ingestion and tissue incorporation of Polystyrene microplastic in the scleractinian coral Porites porites

Cited by 13 publications

References 32 publications

Interactive effects of microplastic pollution and heat stress on reef-building corals

Interactive effects of microplastic pollution and heat stress on reef-building corals

Consumer feces impact coral health in guild-specific ways

What are the toxicity thresholds of chemical pollutants for tropical reef-building corals? A systematic review

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