Comparative toxicity of ionic and nanoparticulate zinc in the species Cymodoce truncata, Gammarus aequicauda and Paracentrotus lividus

Due to the continuous development, production and consumption of nanoparticles (NPs), their release, fate and effects in marine coastal environment can represent a major concern. The aim of this study was to evaluate the toxicity of ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) and compare it to bulk ZnSO(4) on three macroinvertebrates: the isopod Cymodoce truncata (i.e. used for the first time in ecotoxicology), the amphipod Gammarus aequicauda and the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. This study showed concentration- and time-dependent relationships for all biological models for both ZnO NPs and ZnSO(4). Both Zn forms elicited high toxicity to G. aequicauda and C. truncata juveniles, but ZnO NPs induced comparable responses to both species (96h-LC(50) = 0.30 and 0.37 mg/L for G. aequicauda and C. truncata, respectively; p > 0.05), while differences were found after ZnSO(4) exposure (96h-LC(50) = 0.28 and 0.63 mg/L, respectively; p < 0.05). ZnO NPs generated sub-lethal effects on P. lividus embryos (72h-EC(50) = 0.04 (0.03, 0.05) mg/L), not significantly different from ZnSO(4) ones (72h-EC(50) = 0.06 (0.05, 0.07) mg/L). Effects of ZnO NPs were similar to existing literature data for other testing species. C. truncata can be considered as a promising new biological model in (nano)ecotoxicology. [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-021-13712-0.