An Evaluation of the Quantitative Concentration of Microplastic in Dendrobaena veneta and Lumbricus terrestris Tissues from Laboratory and Environmental Cultures
Source abstract
Abstract
Earthworms play a key role in maintaining a healthy soil ecosystem by providing organic matter cycling and influencing the soil’s structure and physicochemical properties. In addition, they have also become the subject of research in the context of soil contamination by plastic particles or microplastics. In this article, two species of earthworms, Dendrobaena veneta and Lumbricus terrestris, were subjected to the influence of a mixed fraction of microplastics at different concentrations and studied to determine the possible correlation in tissue accumulation and to illustrate the possible structural changes in plastics under the influence of earthworm digestive enzymes. Using FTIR spectrometry and plastic fluorescence, the polymer content of the earthworm tissues was determined, and significant differences in the accumulation of plastic particles in the cultured earthworm tissues at the micro- and macroscales were documented.
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Research context
OpenAlex topics: Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Faculty of Infrastructure and Environment, Częstochowa University of Technology, 42-201 Czestochowa, Poland
Funding
statute subvention of the Czestochowa University of Technology (Faculty of Infrastructure and Environment)
References (53)
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