The response of microphytobenthos to physical disturbance, herbicide, and titanium dioxide nanoparticles exposure
Abstract
The microphytobenthos that form transient biofilms are important primary producers in intertidal, depositional habitats, yet we have only a limited understanding of how they respond to the cumulative impacts of the growing range of anthropogenic stressors to which they are exposed. We know even less about how the temporal alignment of exposure – such as duration and exposure sequence – may affect the response. Estuarine biofilms were cultured in mesocosms and exposed to the herbicide glyphosate and titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles in different sequences (glyphosate-first or TiO2-first), as well as in the presence and absence of physical disturbance. We found that at environmentally realistic chemical concentrations, the order of exposure was less important than the total stressor scenario in terms of impacts on key functional attributes and diatom community structure. Physical disturbance did not have an impact on functional attributes, regardless of exposure sequence.
Citation
Rimmer , J , Hubas , C , Wyness , A J , Jesus , B , Hartley , M , Blight , A J , Prins , A & Paterson , D 2022 , ' The response of microphytobenthos to physical disturbance, herbicide, and titanium dioxide nanoparticles exposure ' , Marine Pollution Bulletin , vol. 185 , no. Part B , 1134348 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114348
Publication
Marine Pollution Bulletin
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0025-326XType
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Description
Funding: The research leading to these results received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 730984, ASSEMBLE Plus project. AJW was funded by the John Templeton Grant 60501, “Putting the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis to the Test”. DMP and AJB were supported by the NERC Blue-coast award (NE/N016009/1).Collections
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