Researchers find microplastics for the first time in the water that accumulates in the leaves of a particular plant. They speculate that it got there due to atmospheric contamination or that it was transported by snails.
Microplastics, although they have not been around for a long time, in terms of human historical periods, it is already possible to find them in almost all ecosystems on Earth.
Different investigations have confirmed that they are found in soil, rivers, in the food we eat, in table water and even in lungs and the blood of human and animal organisms.
A new study has already located microplastics in the water that accumulate in the leaves of a type of thistle of the genus dipsacus.
These plants are characterized by having opposite leaves that grow on the stem one above the other at various levels. At the place where they join the stem, the leaves form structures called thelmas, capable of collecting rainwater as a survival strategy. Inside these water reservoirs live certain organisms.
The study of microplastics in thistle water
The team of researchers formed by Katarína Fogašová, Peter Manko and Jozef Obona, from the University of Prešov (Slovakia), studied the aquatic organisms that inhabit these thelmatians and found fibers and fragments of different colors.
When they analyzed these objects, they concluded that they were microplastics. Some of them were 2.4 millimeters long.
“Phytotelmata is a relatively common but neglected aquatic microcosm with a very short term occurrence of only 3-4 months.“say the researchers in their study, which was published in the journal BioRisk.” These phytotelma are very small and short-lived. The question is, therefore, how were they contaminated with microplastics?“.
Hypotheses about the study of microplastics in water
As no polluting sources were found in the area, the researchers believe the microplastics were likely found in the atmosphere. Another hypothesis is that the snails transported them from the soil or other plants, in their body or inside it.
This is the first time that microplastics have been found in the water deposits some plants have in their leaves. According to the researchers, it is further proof that this type of contamination is spreading through different routes and probably no environment on the planet is safe. Scientists call the discovery “quite disheartening”.
Researchers studied one plant in particular, the Phytotelmata Cardencha. This kind of thistle It could be used as a natural detector that indicates the amount of microplastics present in a given ecosystem, their potential impact on the plants themselves and the organisms that are linked to them.
“Our publication, therefore, not only brings the first discovery of microplastic contamination in habitats of this type, but also the first proposal of a new approach to the use of phytotelma of cardencha and similar microecosystems provided by (or artificially raised) plants) as bioindicators. the presence of microplastics in the environment, the possible sources and routes of their dissemination through the environment and the spatio-temporal changes in microplastic contamination”, say the researchers.
Reference: Fogašová K, Manko P, Oboňa J. 2022. The first evidence of microplastics in freshwater microecosystems formed by plants: Dipsacus teasel phytotelmata in Slovakia contaminated with PMs. BioRisk. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/biorisk.18.87433