Pollution of the environment with microplastics reduces energy production. Paramecium bursaria. Reported by the University of Exeter.
Paramecium bursaria – This is a type of ciliate that lives in marine and brackish waters. It has a reciprocal symbiotic relationship with the green alga zoochlorella. Algae live inside the ciliates and provide them with food, while ciliates provide movement and protection to the algae.
During laboratory work Paramecium bursaria placed in water contaminated with microplastic. The pollution level was higher than all the world’s oceans, but not higher than in individual regions of the Earth. The authors tracked the effect of microplastics (compared to control water samples without microplastics) on growth rate, symbiont density (how many algae are in each). Paramecium bursaria), metabolic rate, feeding rate and photosynthetic efficiency.
It turns out that only photosynthesis suffers from plastic. This can be very important because photosynthesis provides the body with energy and supports the nutrient “trade” that allows the symbiote to continue. Overall, the oxygen output was reduced by about 50%.
The share of such symbiotic algae in ocean photosynthesis is huge, so scientists recommend taking this factor into account when analyzing global oxygen production.
ancient biologists perceivedthat the extreme polygamy of the seals drives the males to death.