Size-Dependent Effects of Micro Polystyrene Particles in the Marine Copepod Tigriopus japonicus

We investigated the effects of three sizes of polystyrene (PS) microbeads (0.05, 0.5, and 6-μm diameter) on the survival, development, and fecundity of the copepod Tigriopus japonicus using acute and chronic toxicity tests. T. japonicus ingested and egested all three sizes of PS beads used and exhibited no selective feeding when phytoplankton were added. The copepods (nauplius and adult females) survived all sizes of PS beads and the various concentrations tested in the acute toxicity test for 96 h. In the two-generation chronic toxicity test, 0.05-μm PS beads at a concentration greater than 12.5 μg/mL caused the mortality of nauplii and copepodites in the F0 generation and even triggered mortality at a…