Responses of different species of marine microalgae and their community to gear-derived microplastics

The impact of gear-derived microplastics (MPs) on microalgal community stability is unknown. In this work, three types of gear-derived MPs were obtained from floats, pallets, and tires. After exposure to individual microalgal species (Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Chaetoceros curvisetus, Chlorella vulgaris, Isochrysis galbana), small-sized MPs (22 μm) exhibited stronger toxicity than large-sized MPs (135 μm), and the toxicity was MPs concentration independent. The three MPs (1 mg/L) significantly inhibited the growth of P. trichodinium, C. curvisetus and I. galbana. P. tricornutum was the most sensitive species, and the MPs decreased its chl a content, increased ROS level and reduced membrane integrity. Strong heteroaggregation with MPs is a cause of the observed toxicity. Furthermore, algal community was constructed using these four algal species, and P. tricornutum became the dominant species after community stability. After 96-h exposure to small-sized MPs at all the tested concentrations, the proportion of P. tricornutum highly decreased, thus increasing community stability and diversity maintenance. Photo-aging (20 days) further decreased algal number in the community from 16.54 % (original MPs) to 25.12 % (photo-aged MPs), while the Shannon diversity index increased from 0.93 to 0.99. The introduction of harmful algae (Alexandrium tamarense) decreased total algal number in algal community by 45.10 %, and led to the replacement of dominant species to C. vulgaris. Interestingly, algal number after the exposure of MPs and aged MPs recovered by 7.59 % and 14.71 %, respectively. This work provides useful information on the risk of gear-derived MPs to microalgal community in marine environments (especially mariculture areas).