Ecological risks of personal care ingredients for subtropical benthic communities

Fengjiao Peng

Research output: Thesisinternal PhD, WU

Abstract

Personal care products (PCPs) are widely used in our daily life in considerable quantities and discharged through the down-the-drain route to the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). However, some chemicals used in these products cannot be completely removed in WWTPs and finally enter into environment through effluent discharge. In fact, PCPs have become ubiquitous contaminants in the aquatic environment throughout the word. However, there is limited knowledge of their effects on benthic communities, including benthic macroinvertebrates and sediment bacterial community, and the interaction between sediment-associated hydrophobic PCPs and benthic communities. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is to examine the interaction between sediment-associated hydrophobic PCPs and sediment-dweller in an environmentally realistic manner using a microcosm setup. The results of this thesis indicate that hydrophobic PCPs would not affect the survival and growth of snails and worms at environmentally relevant concentrations. However, worms can accumulate, selectively degrade hydrophobic PCPs, and even accelerate PCPs dissipation in the water/sediment system at environmentally elevated density. In addition, there was a significant interactive effect of sediment-associated triclosan and macroinvertebrates on sediment bacterial community. Therefore, we recommend to include the benthic macroinvertebrates when assessing the response of sediment bacterial communities to exposure to environmental stress such as organic contaminants.

Original languageEnglish
QualificationDoctor of Philosophy
Awarding Institution
  • Wageningen University
Supervisors/Advisors
  • van den Brink, Paul, Promotor
  • Ying, Co-promotor, External person
Award date27 Aug 2018
Place of PublicationWageningen
Publisher
Print ISBNs9789463433129
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Aug 2018

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