Interaction of silver nanoparticles with marine/lake snow in early formation stage

Marine and lake snows play an important ecological role in aquatic systems, and recent researches have also revealed their interactions with various pollutants. In this paper, the interaction of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs), a typical nano-pollutant, with marine/lake snow in the early formation stage was investigated by roller table experiments. Results indicated Ag-NPs promoted the accumulation of larger marine snow flocs while inhibited the development of lake snow. The promotion effect of AgNPs might be attributed to their oxidative dissolution into low-toxic silver chloride complexes in seawater, and the subsequent incorporation into marine snow, which would enhance the rigidity and strength of larger flocs and favor the development of biomass. Conversely, AgNPs mainly existed in the form of colloidal nanoparticles in lake water and their strong antimicrobial effect suppressed the growths of biomass and lake snow. In addition, Ag-NPs could also affect the microbial community of marine/lake snow, including impact on microbial diversity, and elevation on abundances of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) synthesis genes and silver resistance genes. This work has deepened our understanding of the fate and ecological effect of Ag-NPs via the interaction with marine/lake snow in aquatic environments.

Automated summary

In this paper, the interaction of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) with marine/lake snow in the early formation stage was investigated. Results showed that Ag-NPs promoted the accumulation of larger marine snow flocs while inhibited the development of lake snow. The promotion effect of Ag-NPs was attributed to their oxidative dissolution into silver chloride complexes in seawater and incorporation into marine snow, while Ag-NPs in lake water existed as colloidal nanoparticles and suppressed the growth of lake snow due to their strong antimicrobial effect. Furthermore, Ag-NPs also affected the microbial community of marine/lake snow, including impacting microbial diversity and elevating the abundances of extracellular polymeric substances synthesis genes and silver resistance genes.