Ants avoid food contaminated with micro- and nanoplastics
2024
Le Hen, Gwendaline | Masoni, Alberto | Manuelli, Marta | Falsini, Sara | Corti, Emilio | Balzani, Paride | Renault, David | Papini, Alessio | Santini, Giacomo | Ecosystèmes, biodiversité, évolution [Rennes] (ECOBIO) ; Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut Ecologie et Environnement - CNRS Ecologie et Environnement (INEE-CNRS) ; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR) ; Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Università degli Studi di Firenze = University of Florence = Université de Florence (UniFI) | University of South Bohemia | Institut universitaire de France (IUF) ; Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche (M.E.N.E.S.R.) | The authors express their sincere thanks to the “Commission Bourses de Mobilité à l’Étranger de l’Université de Rennes” and the ERASMUS + program for their financial support. AM, AP and GS were supported by the National Biodiversity Future Center. DR thanks MITI-CNRS ‘AAP Santé et environnement 2022’ who supported the project PLASTIBIO. ANSES and ADEME (Appel à projets 2021 du PNR EST) who funded the project PLASTICIDE are thanked. SF acknowledges funding from the European Union - Next Generation EU. National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) - M4C2 Investment 1.3 - Research Programme PE_00000005 ″RETURN” - CUP B83C22004820002.
International audience
Afficher plus [+] Moins [-]anglais. Micro- and nanoplastics (MNP) have recently received particular attention in freshwater and marine ecosystems, but less is known about their impact on terrestrial species. Ants can be used as biological indicators for many types of pollutants and are therefore a good candidate to explore the effects of MNP pollution. In the present study, we investigated the ability of workers from seven colonies of the acrobat ant Crematogaster scutellaris to detect MNP in their food. After two days of starvation, groups of ten ants were tested for their preference toward control and polyethylene-treated solutions. Every 5 min over a total 20 min period, the number of workers feeding on either solution was counted. The results showed that C. scutellaris workers could detect and avoid contaminated food, feeding more often on the uncontaminated solution in the first 10 min. However, after 10 min the food preference was no longer significant between the groups, likely owing to feeding satiation. We then assessed whether this feeding behaviour is sufficient to cause the accumulation of MNP in the ant. We thereby provided a solution containing fluorescent MNP (fMNP) at the same concentration as in the previous experiments. Observation of the ants' mouthparts using fluorescent light microscopy showed that after 10 min dense aggregations of fMNP were visible. Further investigations are needed to understand the mechanisms of detection of MNP by ants, and the accumulation dynamics in ants' bodies. Moreover, the effects of MNP on the integrity and fitness of ant colonies, as well as the potential transfer across terrestrial trophic chains should be explored.
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