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- Title
Nascently generated microplastics in freshwater stream are colonized by bacterial communities from stream and riparian sources.
- Authors
Hossain, M. Rumman; Eagar, Andrew C.; Blackwood, Christopher B.; Leff, Laura G.
- Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine bacterial colonization of different types of microplastics through time in a freshwater ecosystem. Microplastics are persistent pollutants in aquatic ecosystems. Bacteria readily colonize microplastic surfaces and may contribute to their degradation, but the taxa involved, and their degradative abilities, differ based on factors such as microplastic chemistry, plastic age, and specific ecosystem types. Four different common types of newly manufactured microplastics, high‐density polyethylene, low‐density polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene, were incubated for 7 weeks in a freshwater stream and sampled. Sample collection was timed to examine the development of early and late bacterial biofilm communities. Microplastics were analyzed for changes to buoyancy, weight, contact angles (an indicator of surface roughness), bacterial community composition, and the number of bacterial cells. Time was the only significant contributing factor in the development of bacterial biofilm communities on microplastic disks over the 7‐week study. Notably, the Comamonadaceae were abundant early in the study and decreased in abundance with time, while the Methylococcaceae demonstrated the opposite trend. Different physicochemical properties among the various types of microplastics had only a minor effect on bacterial community compositions of biofilms growing on the microplastics. Additionally, the surfaces of all microplastic disks became rougher over time in the stream. Collectively, our results show that microplastic surfaces undergo surface modification and community succession as time progresses, regardless of microplastic type, in a freshwater stream ecosystem. Core Ideas: Bacterial colonization of new microplastics in a freshwater stream was studied.Early and late bacterial biofilm communities were compared on four different types of microplastics.Results indicated bacterial communities on microplastics in a stream are generated from surrounding soil bacterial communities. Plain Language Summary: We observed that the bacterial community from a freshwater stream readily colonizes different types of newly generated microplastic disks. While there were some differences between the different types of microplastic disks at the start of the study, there were no significant differences as the study progressed. Microplastic debris typically do not undergo sink and tend to float across various bodies of water. As a result, it is difficult to gauge the age of any microplastic debris sampled at a body of water. When we generated new microplastic disks with no bacterial growth and ensured they remained at the same location over an extended period of time, we observed that the microplastic disks were colonized by bacterial communities present in the local stream and surrounding soils from degrading leaf matter.
- Subjects
BODIES of water; BACTERIAL communities; PERSISTENT pollutants; PLASTIC marine debris; MICROPLASTICS; CONTACT angle; BIOFILMS; BACTERIAL colonies
- Publication
Journal of Environmental Quality, 2024, Vol 53, Issue 5, p577
- ISSN
0047-2425
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/jeq2.20602