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Low concentrations of silver nanoparticles in biosolids cause adverse ecosystem responses under realistic field scenario.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Colman, BP; Arnaout, CL; Anciaux, S; Gunsch, CK; Hochella, MF; Kim, B; Lowry, GV; McGill, BM; Reinsch, BC; Richardson, CJ; Unrine, JM; Yin, L ...
Published in: PloS one
January 2013

A large fraction of engineered nanomaterials in consumer and commercial products will reach natural ecosystems. To date, research on the biological impacts of environmental nanomaterial exposures has largely focused on high-concentration exposures in mechanistic lab studies with single strains of model organisms. These results are difficult to extrapolate to ecosystems, where exposures will likely be at low-concentrations and which are inhabited by a diversity of organisms. Here we show adverse responses of plants and microorganisms in a replicated long-term terrestrial mesocosm field experiment following a single low dose of silver nanoparticles (0.14 mg Ag kg(-1) soil) applied via a likely route of exposure, sewage biosolid application. While total aboveground plant biomass did not differ between treatments receiving biosolids, one plant species, Microstegium vimeneum, had 32 % less biomass in the Slurry+AgNP treatment relative to the Slurry only treatment. Microorganisms were also affected by AgNP treatment, which gave a significantly different community composition of bacteria in the Slurry+AgNPs as opposed to the Slurry treatment one day after addition as analyzed by T-RFLP analysis of 16S-rRNA genes. After eight days, N2O flux was 4.5 fold higher in the Slurry+AgNPs treatment than the Slurry treatment. After fifty days, community composition and N2O flux of the Slurry+AgNPs treatment converged with the Slurry. However, the soil microbial extracellular enzymes leucine amino peptidase and phosphatase had 52 and 27% lower activities, respectively, while microbial biomass was 35% lower than the Slurry. We also show that the magnitude of these responses was in all cases as large as or larger than the positive control, AgNO3, added at 4-fold the Ag concentration of the silver nanoparticles.

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Published In

PloS one

DOI

EISSN

1932-6203

ISSN

1932-6203

Publication Date

January 2013

Volume

8

Issue

2

Start / End Page

e57189

Related Subject Headings

  • Silver Nitrate
  • Silver
  • Plants
  • Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
  • Metal Nanoparticles
  • General Science & Technology
  • Ecosystem
  • Biomass
 

Citation

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Colman, B. P., Arnaout, C. L., Anciaux, S., Gunsch, C. K., Hochella, M. F., Kim, B., … Bernhardt, E. S. (2013). Low concentrations of silver nanoparticles in biosolids cause adverse ecosystem responses under realistic field scenario. PloS One, 8(2), e57189. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057189
Colman, Benjamin P., Christina L. Arnaout, Sarah Anciaux, Claudia K. Gunsch, Michael F. Hochella, Bojeong Kim, Gregory V. Lowry, et al. “Low concentrations of silver nanoparticles in biosolids cause adverse ecosystem responses under realistic field scenario.PloS One 8, no. 2 (January 2013): e57189. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057189.
Colman BP, Arnaout CL, Anciaux S, Gunsch CK, Hochella MF, Kim B, et al. Low concentrations of silver nanoparticles in biosolids cause adverse ecosystem responses under realistic field scenario. PloS one. 2013 Jan;8(2):e57189.
Colman, Benjamin P., et al. “Low concentrations of silver nanoparticles in biosolids cause adverse ecosystem responses under realistic field scenario.PloS One, vol. 8, no. 2, Jan. 2013, p. e57189. Epmc, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057189.
Colman BP, Arnaout CL, Anciaux S, Gunsch CK, Hochella MF, Kim B, Lowry GV, McGill BM, Reinsch BC, Richardson CJ, Unrine JM, Wright JP, Yin L, Bernhardt ES. Low concentrations of silver nanoparticles in biosolids cause adverse ecosystem responses under realistic field scenario. PloS one. 2013 Jan;8(2):e57189.

Published In

PloS one

DOI

EISSN

1932-6203

ISSN

1932-6203

Publication Date

January 2013

Volume

8

Issue

2

Start / End Page

e57189

Related Subject Headings

  • Silver Nitrate
  • Silver
  • Plants
  • Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
  • Metal Nanoparticles
  • General Science & Technology
  • Ecosystem
  • Biomass