Caenorhabditis elegans
Alarming “cascade effect” does not result from a genetic mutation, but from a behavioral response learned by nematodes worms. Like us, when we prefer sweeter foods, although they do health worse.
Continuous exposure A can lead some small animals to prefer contaminated foods even when they have access to cleaner options.
Unusual behavior described in a study by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the 10th Environmental Science and Technology Letterswas observed in nematodes worms. The study analyzed the eating behavior of common microscopic worm.
Initially, the animals opted for a diet based on non -contaminated bacteria; over several generations, they began to show Preference for foods with microplastics.
The change in behavior has to do with how nematodes identify food – which is smell and not by vision. Repeated exposure may have made the worms began to associate the odor of microplastics with the usual food. Other animals that depend on smell may undergo similar changes in their eating behavior, the researchers now warn.
Nematodes, present in large numbers in the planet’s soils, play an essential role in the food chain and nutrient recycling.
This acquired taste “will be transmitted through the food chain,” says Song Lin Chua of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which warns that behavior can create a kind of “Cascade Effect” which will also affect the human diet. “Eventually, this will turn against us,” he says.
