The Effects of Paroxetine on Benthic Microbial Food Web and Nitrogen Transformation in River Sediments

Yi Li, Xinqi Chen, Xinzi Wang, Jiahui Shang, Lihua Niu, Longfei Wang, Huanjun Zhang and Wenlong Zhang ()
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Yi Li: Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development of Shallow Lakes of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Xinqi Chen: Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development of Shallow Lakes of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Xinzi Wang: Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development of Shallow Lakes of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Jiahui Shang: Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development of Shallow Lakes of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Lihua Niu: Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development of Shallow Lakes of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Longfei Wang: Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development of Shallow Lakes of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Huanjun Zhang: Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development of Shallow Lakes of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Wenlong Zhang: Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development of Shallow Lakes of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 21, 1-14

Abstract: Paroxetine is a common pharmaceutical to treat depression and has been found to pose threats to aquatic organisms. However, little is known about the effects of paroxetine on the nutrient cycle in aquatic environments. Therefore, DNA metabarcoding is used in this study to analyze the effects of paroxetine on multi-trophic microorganisms and nitrogen transformation in river sediments. Although paroxetine has no significant effect on the diversity of microbenthos, changes in benthic nitrogen-converting bacteria are consistent with the change in the various forms of nitrogen in the sediment, indicating that paroxetine affects the nitrogen conversion process by affecting nitrogen-converting bacteria. In addition, it is found that paroxetine has the ability to influence nitrogen transformation in an indirect way by affecting the trophic transfer efficiency of higher trophic levels (meiofauna and protozoa, protozoa and protozoa), subsequently affecting the growth of nitrogen-converting bacteria through a top-down mechanism (i.e., predation).The results show that paroxetine affects nitrogen transformation directly by affecting nitrogen-converting bacteria and indirectly through top-down effects, emphasizing that the assessment of paroxetine’s ecological risks should consider species within different trophic levels.

Keywords: paroxetine; microbial food web; nitrogen; DNA metabarcoding; microbenthic communities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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