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dc.contributor.authorDawson, Amanda L
dc.contributor.authorKawaguchi, So
dc.contributor.authorKing, Catherine K
dc.contributor.authorTownsend, Kathy A
dc.contributor.authorKing, Robert
dc.contributor.authorHuston, Wilhelmina M
dc.contributor.authorNash, Susan M Bengtson
dc.date.accessioned2019-08-20T01:24:26Z
dc.date.available2019-08-20T01:24:26Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.identifier.issn2041-1723
dc.identifier.doi10.1038/s41467-018-03465-9
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/382906
dc.description.abstractMicroplastics (plastics <5 mm diameter) are at the forefront of current environmental pollution research, however, little is known about the degradation of microplastics through ingestion. Here, by exposing Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) to microplastics under acute static renewal conditions, we present evidence of physical size alteration of microplastics ingested by a planktonic crustacean. Ingested microplastics (31.5 µm) are fragmented into pieces less than 1 µm in diameter. Previous feeding studies have shown spherical microplastics either; pass unaffected through an organism and are excreted, or are sufficiently small for translocation to occur. We identify a new pathway; microplastics are fragmented into sizes small enough to cross physical barriers, or are egested as a mixture of triturated particles. These findings suggest that current laboratory-based feeding studies may be oversimplifying interactions between zooplankton and microplastics but also introduces a new role of Antarctic krill, and potentially other species, in the biogeochemical cycling and fate of plastic.
dc.description.peerreviewedYes
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherNature Publishing Group
dc.relation.ispartofissue1
dc.relation.ispartofjournalNature Communications
dc.relation.ispartofvolume9
dc.subject.fieldofresearchEnvironmental marine biotechnology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode410305
dc.titleTurning microplastics into nanoplastics through digestive fragmentation by Antarctic krill
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.descriptionC1 - Articles
dc.type.codeC - Journal Articles
dcterms.licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
gro.rights.copyright© The Author(s) 2018. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
gro.hasfulltextFull Text
gro.griffith.authorBengtson Nash, Susan M.


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