4. Conclusions
The data presented are for a single species considered to be representative of zooplankton in terms of its survivalship, size and feeding strategy. However, a similar methodology to that proposed here could also be applied to other species. Based on this work the following conclusions can be tentatively proposed:
(1) The suspended particles elicited a dose-dependent toxicity in KN, MN and MNn, with the following toxicity pattern:
MN > KN > MNn.
(2) NP and NPn did not show any harmful effects on the animals. Instead, NP and NPn, especially NPn, contributed to
the survivorship of the animals.
(3) The nanoscale particles were less toxic than the commonscale ones, both for MN and NP.
(4) The animals were able to survive throughout the 21-day period of bioassays, and when the particle concentration
reached 600 mg L1, they produced many neonates without any addition of food. The results of the 21-day period of bioassays indicated that when the organisms were exposed to particles of different size scales, they showed different selection patterns for allocating resources. This may be due to the generation of different assimilation and digestion patterns.