Table 2.
Summary of the adverse effects microfibres (from polymers found on disposable face masks; i.e., PE, PP, PA, PET, polyesters) on wildlife (as reviewed by Kutralam-Muniasamy et al., 2020; Singh et al., 2020).
| Test organism | Polymer & size | Exposure conditions (concentration; time of exposure) |
Ecotoxicological effects | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carcinus maenas (Decapoda) | PP (500 um) obtained from ropes | Up to 2 mg; 30 days | Reduction in feeding activity | Watts et al., 2015 |
| Hyalella azteca (Amphipoda) | PE and PP (20–70 × 20 Ø um) obtained from a 3 y old rope | Up to 90 items/mL; 30 days | Compromised growth and reproduction | Au et al., 2015 |
|
Gammarus fossarum (Amphipoda) |
PA (500 × 20 Ø um) | Up to 13,380 items/cm; up to 16 h | Reduction in the food intake | Blarer and Burkhardt-Holm, 2016 |
|
Daphnia magna (Cladocera) |
PET (62–1400 × 31–528 Ø um) obtained from a PET fabric | Up to 100 mg/L; 48 h | Increased mortality | Jemec et al., 2016 |
| Nephrops norvegicus (Decapoda) | PP (3–5 mm × 0.2 Ø mm) obtained from ropes | 5 items included in 1.5 g of squid; 8 months | Compromised feeding rate, body mass, and metabolic rate | Welden and Cowie, 2016 |
|
Ceriodaphnia dubia (Branchiopoda) |
Polyester (100–400 um) obtained from clothing | Up to 3.4 × 104 items/L; 1 and 8 days | Physiological deformities, compromised reproduction. | Ziajahromi et al., 2017 |
|
Mytilus edulis (Mytilda) |
PET (< 5 mm) obtained from pink PET fleece | 30 items/ mL; up to 72 h | Compromised filtration rates | Woods et al., 2018 |
| Emerita analoga (Decapoda) | PP (1 mm) obtained from rope | 3 items every 4 days; 71 days | Adult mortality and adverse embryonic development | Horn et al., 2020 |
| Calanus helgolandicus (Calanoida) | Nylon and PET (10 × 4 μm; 23 × 100 μm; 17 × 60 μm; 23 × 70 μm) purchased from Goodfellow | 100 items/ mL; 24 h | Compromised feeding activity, alteration in sinking rates | Coppock et al., 2019 |
| Aiptasia pallida (Actinaria) | Nylon, polyester and PP (50–1000 × 30 Ø um) obtained from fluorescent ropes | 10 mg/L (~121 ± 28 items); 72 h | Alteration in intestinal metabolism and gut microbiota, increased inflammation. | de Orte et al., 2019 |
| Danio rerio (Cypriniformes) | PP (20–100 × 20 Ø um) obtained from containers | 20 mg/L; 24 h | Intestine alterations, gut inflammation, and metabolism disruption. Gut microbiota dysbiosis. | Qiao et al., 2019 |
|
Palaemonetes pugio (Decapoda) |
Polyester (63–150 um) obtained from fabric PP (34–93 um) obtained from weathered marine rope |
50,000 items/L; 96 h | No effects on survival and bacterial infection (for polyester). Increased mortality (PP) |
Leads et al., 2019 |
| Lumbricus terrestris (Opisthopora) | Polyester (361–387 × 40 Ø um) obtained from cushion | 0, 0.1 and 1.0% w/w microfibers for 35 days | ALtered burrowing and feeding behaviour, molecular genetic biomarkers. | Prendergast-Miller et al., 2019 |
| Achatina fulica (Stylommatophora) | PET (1257 × 76.3 Ø um) | 0.01–0.71 g/kg; 28 days | Reduction in food intake and excretion, damage in the gastrointestinal walls, oxidative stress. | Song et al., 2019 |
| Folsomia candida (Collembola) | PP obtained from PPE microfibres (< 300 μm) |
1000 mg/kg dry soil; 28 days | Ingestion/egestion observed, reproduction and growth decreased by 48% and 92%, respectively, no biochemical and behavioural alterations | Jin and Youn-Joo, 2021 |
|
Eisenia Andrei (Opisthopora) |
PP obtained from PPE microfibres (< 300 μm) |
1000 mg/kg dry soil; 21 days | Biochemical alterations (esterase activity dropped 62%; spermatogenesis declined to 0.8). No effects on survival and absence of pathological symptoms | Jin and Youn-Joo, 2021 |