North Carolina Marine Debris Symposium
  • Home
  • 2021 Event
  • History
  • Gallery
  • Research
  • NC Plastic Policy Workshop

“Plastisphere”: Microbial Communities on Plastic Marine Debris Erik R. Zettler, Tracy J. Mincer, and Linda A. Amaral-Zettler

7/9/2013

0 Comments

 
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es401288x

Life in the “Plastisphere”: Microbial Communities on Plastic Marine Debris Erik R. Zettler, Tracy J. Mincer, and Linda A. Amaral-Zettler Environ. Sci. Technol., 2013, 47 (13), pp 7137–7146
DOI: 10.1021/es401288x

Abstract
Plastics are the most abundant form of marine debris, with global production rising and documented impacts in some marine environments, but the influence of plastic on open ocean ecosystems is poorly understood, particularly for microbial communities. Plastic marine debris (PMD) collected at multiple locations in the North Atlantic was analyzed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and next-generation sequencing to characterize the attached microbial communities. We unveiled a diverse microbial community of heterotrophs, autotrophs, predators, and symbionts, a community we refer to as the “Plastisphere”.
Pits visualized in the PMD surface conformed to bacterial shapes suggesting active hydrolysis of the hydrocarbon polymer. Small-subunit rRNA gene surveys identified several hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria, supporting the possibility that microbes play a role in degrading PMD.
Some Plastisphere members may be opportunistic pathogens (the authors, unpublished data) such as specific members of the genus Vibrio that dominated one of our plastic samples. Plastisphere communities are distinct from surrounding surface water, implying that plastic serves as a novel ecological habitat in the open ocean. Plastic has a longer half-life than most natural floating marine substrates, and a hydrophobic surface that promotes microbial colonization and biofilm formation, differing from autochthonous substrates in the upper layers of the ocean.

http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=50242&tid=3622&cid=171469

Scientists Discover Thriving Colonies of Microbes in Ocean 'Plastisphere'
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Relations Office
media@whoi.edu
June 27, 2013
(508) 289-3340


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    July 2018
    May 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    April 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    RSS Feed

      Submit your news!

    Submit
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • 2021 Event
  • History
  • Gallery
  • Research
  • NC Plastic Policy Workshop