The effect of different concentrations of polyethylene microbeads \u3ci\u3eDaphnia magna\u3c/i\u3e

Polyethylene is the most commonly use plastic in consumer products and is increasingly being used in the production of consumer products. Because polyethylene is used in products such as face wash and toothpaste, it ends up going down the drain and into the ocean. Due to their small size, nanoparticles could easily be consumed by aquatic animals. This project focuses on the toxicity of polyethylene plastic microbeads on the aquatic environment. The data tests were gathered by exposing the invertebrate Daphnia magna to different concentrations of the 50 micrometer polyethylene particles. It was hypothesized that if the amount of the polyethylene microbeads increased, then the Daphnia magna will die and the population and amount of Daphnia magna would decrease. The Daphnia magna were individually placed into containers filled each with 0.24 liters of water and the different concentrations of the polyethylene. 90 total of Daphnia magna were tested. 30 Daphnia magna were each exposed to 0.0000 grams of the polyethylene microbeads, 30 Daphnia magna were each exposed to 0.0005 grams of the polyethylene microbeads, and the last 30 Daphnia magna were each exposed to 0.0010 grams of polyethylene microbeads. The experimentation lasted for 11 days. After experimenting, it was concluded that the rates of death among the Daphnia magna were not significantly different. The results showed that death of the microorganisms were not widely different between the levels of concentrations, although there were more three more Daphnia magna organisms from the group that received none of the polyethylene microbeads that survived at the end of the 11 days, than the other two groups of Daphnia magna that did receive the polyethylene