Responses of micro-crustacean, Daphnia magna, under trans-generational exposures to single-use plastic leachates

Abstract

Plastic pollution is one of the most serious environmental issues worldwide. The emission of plastics to the environment is highly related to the single-use plastics and packaging. Plastics themselves contain a wide range of potent toxic additives which could be released into aquatic environment consequently ecosystem health problems. In this study we tested the chronic effects of leachates from two common single-use plastics, also known as the packaging in Vietnam, food wrapper and foam box, on Daphnia magna across two generations in the laboratory conditions. The organisms were incubated in the medium containing plastic leachates at four concentrations, 0 mg plastics/L (control), 10 mg plastics/L (denoted as L10), 100 mg plastics/L (L100), and 1000 mg plastics/L (L1000) for 21 days in the first generation and 14 days in the second generation. The results showed that leachates from two common single-use plastics in Vietnam at the concentration up to 1000 mg/L did not impact on survival of D. magna. However, the leachates stimulated the organism reproduction which evidences for compounds interfering the reproductive function of D. magna. This revealed high potential toxic compounds from the used plastics. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the influences of leachates from the two common single-use plastics in Vietnam on D. magna, across two generations. Further investigations on the impacts of plastic leachates on zooplankton (e.g. population alteration) in situ are recommended because of high amount of plastic emission in water bodies of Vietnam.