Beschreibung: In this study we model population dynamics in a three-species food web with heterogeneous resources and intraguild predation by using a nonspatial Lotka-Volterra system with a density-dependent interaction of resource items. The model consists of two predators with an intraguild predation (IGP) relation competing for a common resource. The resource is subdivided into subpopulations of different quality that are distinguished by grazing rates of the two predators, contact rates between subpopulations and mortality rates. The proposed system describes an exchange of traits between species from distinct subpopulations by using a species interaction term. In particular, we examine the percentage of stable coexistence solutions versus resource carrying capacity and contact rates between distinct resource pools. We also present a numerical comparison of the percentage of stable food webs found for different numbers of subpopulations. While at high enrichment no stable coexistence was found in the IGP system with a single resource, our model predicts a stable coexistence of two IGP-related predators and resources at high and intermediate enrichment already at a low contact rate between subpopulations.

Beschreibung: The global presence of microplastic (MP) in aquatic ecosystems has been shown by various studies. However, neither MP concentrations nor their sources or sinks are completely known. Waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) are considered as significant point sources discharging MP to the environment. This study investigated MP in the effluents of 12 WWTPs in Lower Saxony, Germany. Samples were purified by a plastic-preserving enzymatic-oxidative procedure and subsequent density separation using a zinc chloride solution. For analysis, attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FT-IR) and focal plane array (FPA)-based transmission micro-FT-IR imaging were applied. This allowed the identification of polymers of all MP down to a size of 20 μm. In all effluents MP was found with quantities ranging from 0 to 5 × 101 m-3 MP 〉 500 μm and 1 × 101 to 9 × 103 m-3 MP 〈 500 μm. By far, polyethylene was the most frequent polymer type in both size classes. Quantities of synthetic fibres ranged from 9 × 101 to 1 × 103 m-3 and were predominantly made of polyester. Considering the annual effluxes of tested WWTPs, total discharges of 9 × 107 to 4 × 109 MP particles and fibres per WWTP could be expected. Interestingly, one tertiary WWTP had an additionally installed post-filtration that reduced the total MP discharge by 97%. Furthermore, the sewage sludge of six WWTPs was examined and the existence of MP, predominantly polyethylene, revealed. Our findings suggest that WWTPs could be a sink but also a source of MP and thus can be considered to play an important role for environmental MP pollution.

Beschreibung: Plastic ingestion by marine biota has been reported for a variety of different taxa. In this study, we investigated 290 gastrointestinal tracts of demersal (cod, dab and flounder) and pelagic fish species (herring and mackerel) from the North and Baltic Sea for the occurrence of plastic ingestion. In 5.5% of all investigated fishes, plastic particles were detected, with 74% of all particles being in the microplastic (〈 5 mm) size range. The polymer types of all found particles were analysed by means of Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Almost 40% of the particles consisted of polyethylene (PE). In 3.4% of the demersal and 10.7% of the pelagic individuals, plastic ingestion was recorded, showing a significantly higher ingestion frequency in the pelagic feeders. The condition factor K was calculated to test differences in the fitness status between individuals with and without ingested plastic, but no direct effect was detected