Nano-toxicity and Aquatic Food Chain
Deeksha Krishna and H. K. Sachan
Abstract
Toxicity of nanoparticles in the aquatic environment is of
serious concern as increasing concentration of nanoparticles potentially affects the aquatic plants and animals
living in the aquatic ecosystem. Engineered nanoparticles
(ENPs) are derived from anthropogenic sources, which
are highly stable and uniform in distribution. In the
aquatic environment, there is an alarming situation and
indefinite safety use for the ENPs. The ENPs interact with
aquatic organisms at trophic levels (lower and upper
levels) throughout the aquatic food chain. Advancement
is rendered in the evaluation of bioaccumulation in recent
years, and the transfer in trophic level of ENPs. While
findings of numerous studies carried out in different
locations of the world have proved the noxious consequences of nanomaterials upon the organism's in the
aquatic environment as well as in what manner they
impact food chain resulting in bioaccumulation, affecting
marine animals’ wellbeing, development, reproduction,
and physiology. We are exploring the nanotoxicity in the
aquatic food chain and aquatic species, trophic transition,
and biomagnification in this chapter. The critical points of
the study are that ENPs are able to go up to three trophic
stages in the aquatic food chain. Biomagnification of
various nanoparticles (quantum dots, nAu, nCeO 2 and
nTiO 2 ) fit for two trophic levels have a biomagnification
ratio greater than one. Not many studies on the third
trophic stage nevertheless demonstrated biomagnification.
The deposition of ENPs in aquatic plants and animals has
also been shown to affect physiological processes of
different organisms.
Keywords
Aquatic systems Á Bioaccumulation Á Environment Á
Nanoparticles Á Phytoplankton Á Reactive oxygen
species Á Trophic levels
1 Introduction
Nanotechnology is reportedly expected to hit a market size
of $3 trillion by 2020. In the consumer market, more than
1800 nano-enabled items are now available. There has been
a tremendous progress in nanoscience and nanotechnology
field over the past decade, with nanomaterials being utilized
in a wide-ranging field, including business, chemistry,
healthcare, medicine, fabric textiles, forestry, wastewater
management electronics as well as communications devices
(Walters et al. 2016; Bundschuh et al. 2018). Therefore,
unintentional liberation of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs)
is initiated around the environment, predominantly in waters.
On lower and upper trophic stages, ENPs may communicate
with food chain species. Advancement has taken place on
bioaccumulation evaluation and trophic transition of ENPs
in recent years. The released ENPs from nano-enabled
products during their life cycle raised environmental health
and safety issues.
Nonetheless, ample evidence can be found in recent
research articles upon the ecological influences of ENPs
(Adiloğlu et al. 2012; Holden et al. 2016; Zhang et al. 2018;
Abbas et al. 2020; Attarilaret al. 2020) supporting the
forthcoming impacts of ENPs to damage aquatic organisms
if existing in abundantly higher concentrations. A previous
report by Shi et al. (2013) revealed a massive consumption
of ENPs engrained out the toxicological properties in the
aquatic ecosystem (Salieri et al. 2015), causing prominent
harm to aquatic biota. Studies have shown that the toxicity
precisely associated with ZnO-NPs is due to buildup of Zn
+2
ions in the water environment (Brun et al. 2014; Zhang et al.
D. Krishna (&) Á H. K. Sachan
CAFF, Fiji National University, 1544 Suva, Fiji
e-mail: dikshakrishna@gmail.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
P. Singh et al. (eds.), Plant-Microbes-Engineered Nano-particles (PM-ENPs) Nexus in Agro-Ecosystems,
Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66956-0_13
189
Deeksha Krishna and H. K. Sachan
Abstract
Toxicity of nanoparticles in the aquatic environment is of
serious concern as increasing concentration of nanoparticles potentially affects the aquatic plants and animals
living in the aquatic ecosystem. Engineered nanoparticles
(ENPs) are derived from anthropogenic sources, which
are highly stable and uniform in distribution. In the
aquatic environment, there is an alarming situation and
indefinite safety use for the ENPs. The ENPs interact with
aquatic organisms at trophic levels (lower and upper
levels) throughout the aquatic food chain. Advancement
is rendered in the evaluation of bioaccumulation in recent
years, and the transfer in trophic level of ENPs. While
findings of numerous studies carried out in different
locations of the world have proved the noxious consequences of nanomaterials upon the organism's in the
aquatic environment as well as in what manner they
impact food chain resulting in bioaccumulation, affecting
marine animals’ wellbeing, development, reproduction,
and physiology. We are exploring the nanotoxicity in the
aquatic food chain and aquatic species, trophic transition,
and biomagnification in this chapter. The critical points of
the study are that ENPs are able to go up to three trophic
stages in the aquatic food chain. Biomagnification of
various nanoparticles (quantum dots, nAu, nCeO 2 and
nTiO 2 ) fit for two trophic levels have a biomagnification
ratio greater than one. Not many studies on the third
trophic stage nevertheless demonstrated biomagnification.
The deposition of ENPs in aquatic plants and animals has
also been shown to affect physiological processes of
different organisms.
Keywords
Aquatic systems Á Bioaccumulation Á Environment Á
Nanoparticles Á Phytoplankton Á Reactive oxygen
species Á Trophic levels
1 Introduction
Nanotechnology is reportedly expected to hit a market size
of $3 trillion by 2020. In the consumer market, more than
1800 nano-enabled items are now available. There has been
a tremendous progress in nanoscience and nanotechnology
field over the past decade, with nanomaterials being utilized
in a wide-ranging field, including business, chemistry,
healthcare, medicine, fabric textiles, forestry, wastewater
management electronics as well as communications devices
(Walters et al. 2016; Bundschuh et al. 2018). Therefore,
unintentional liberation of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs)
is initiated around the environment, predominantly in waters.
On lower and upper trophic stages, ENPs may communicate
with food chain species. Advancement has taken place on
bioaccumulation evaluation and trophic transition of ENPs
in recent years. The released ENPs from nano-enabled
products during their life cycle raised environmental health
and safety issues.
Nonetheless, ample evidence can be found in recent
research articles upon the ecological influences of ENPs
(Adiloğlu et al. 2012; Holden et al. 2016; Zhang et al. 2018;
Abbas et al. 2020; Attarilaret al. 2020) supporting the
forthcoming impacts of ENPs to damage aquatic organisms
if existing in abundantly higher concentrations. A previous
report by Shi et al. (2013) revealed a massive consumption
of ENPs engrained out the toxicological properties in the
aquatic ecosystem (Salieri et al. 2015), causing prominent
harm to aquatic biota. Studies have shown that the toxicity
precisely associated with ZnO-NPs is due to buildup of Zn
+2
ions in the water environment (Brun et al. 2014; Zhang et al.
D. Krishna (&) Á H. K. Sachan
CAFF, Fiji National University, 1544 Suva, Fiji
e-mail: dikshakrishna@gmail.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
P. Singh et al. (eds.), Plant-Microbes-Engineered Nano-particles (PM-ENPs) Nexus in Agro-Ecosystems,
Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66956-0_13
189