Soil properties can evoke toxicity of copper oxide nanoparticles towards springtails at low concentrations

Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO-NP) are used as an efficient alternative to conventional Cu in agriculture and might end up in soils. They show a high toxicity towards cells and microorganisms, but only low toxicity towards soil invertebrates. However, most existing soil ecotoxicological studies were conducted in a sandy reference soil and at test concentrations ≥100 mg Cu/kg soil. Therefore, there is a knowledge gap concerning the effect of soil texture on the toxicity of CuO-NP at lower, more realistic test concentrations. In our study, a sandy reference soil and three loamy soils were spiked with CuO-NP at up to four concentrations, ranging from 5 to 158 mg Cu/kg. We investigated 28-day reproduction as well as weight and Cu content after 14-day bioaccumulation and subsequent 14-day elimination for the springtail Folsomia candida. For the first time we analysed the size distribution of CuO-NP in aqueous test soil extracts by single particle-ICP-MS which revealed that the diameter of CuO-NP significantly increased with increasing concentration, but did not vary between test soils. Negative effects on reproduction were only observed in loamy soils, most pronounced in a loamy-acidic soil (−61%), and they were always strongest at the lowest test concentration. The observed effects were much stronger than reported by other studies performed with sandy soils and higher CuO-NP concentrations. In the same soil and concentration, a moderate impact on growth (−28%) was observed, while Cu elimination from springtails was inhibited. Rather than Cu body concentration, the diameter of the CuO-NP taken up, as well as NP-clay interactions might play a crucial role regarding their toxicity. Our study reports for the first time toxic effects of CuO-NP towards a soil invertebrate at a low, realistic concentration range. The results strongly suggest including lower test concentrations and a range of soil types in nanotoxicity testing.