Sign In
Learn bits
Ecology & Environment
Mahesh

23/09/22 07:00 AM IST

Nano Plastics

In News
  • Researchers from the University of Eastern Finland have found that small pieces of plastic called nanoplastics can travel up the human food web, through plants, insects and even fish.
  • Nanoplastics are tiny plastic debris particles smaller than 1,000 nanometre (1 nm is equal to one billionth of a metre).
Key Findings 
  • Because of their miniscule size, nanoplastics are capable of passing through physiological barriers and enter different organisms through the food chain.
  • These particles were detected and measured in organisms by researchers from the University of Eastern Finland.
  • The researchers used a novel metallic fingerprint-based method to a model food chain that has three tropic levels.
  • Tropic level is the position an organism occupies in the food chain.
  • For this research, lettuce (primary producer), black soldier fly larvae (primary consumer) and an insectivorous fish (secondary consumer) were used.
  • Researchers exposed lettuce plants to nanoplastics from commonly found plastic wastes in the environment – polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride nanoplastics – through contaminated soil.
  • This lettuce was harvested and fed to black soldier fly larvae, which is used as a source of protein for children and cattle in many countries.
  • The black soldier fly was then fed to the roach (fish), which is commonly found in fresh and brackish waters and sometimes consumed or used as a bait.
  • From this experiment, researchers have found that nanoplastics from the contaminated soil have travelled from the lettuce plant to the fish.
  • The nanoplastics stayed in mouth and gut of black soldier fly despite allowing it to empty it guts for 24 hours.
Source- Indian Express 

More Related Current Affairs View All

05 May

Key objectives of caste count

'The Union Cabinet has decided that the next Census will include questions on caste to its enumeration of India’s population, for the first time in almost a century. ' T

Read More

05 May

2 new genome-edited rice varieties

'Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan recently released two genome-edited varieties of rice, the first achievement of its kind in the country.' These two varieties, which

Read More

05 Mar

First-ever comprehensive survey of India’s river dolphins

'Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the results of the first-ever comprehensive population estimation of riverine dolphins – Gangetic and Indus dolphins – done in In

Read More

India’s First Ai-Driven Magazine Generator

Generate Your Custom Current Affairs Magazine using our AI in just 3 steps