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Microplastics as Ecological Infrastructure: A Review from a Systems Perspective on Microbial Connectivity, Carbon Cycling, and Ecosystem Resilience
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This review paper proposes a new framework for thinking about tiny floating plastic pieces in water as surfaces that carry microbes from place to place. It suggests these microbial communities could affect carbon cycling and ecosystem stability, but notes these ideas are hypotheses that still need direct testing, not confirmed findings.
Microplastics are increasingly recognized not only as persistent pollutants but also as novel microbial habitats capable of influencing ecological processes across aquatic ecosystems. Although the plastisphere has been extensively described, its broader ecological significance remains poorly integrated within ecosystem theory. Here, we propose the Ecological Infrastructure Framework (EIF), which considers colonized microplastics as persistent mobile substrates that may support microbial communities, create opportunities for biological connectivity and redistribute microbial functional potential across environmental boundaries. The framework integrates material persistence, eco-corona formation, microbial succession, environmental selection and dispersal to examine how plastic-associated communities develop and interact with receiving environments. We further introduce Ecological Filter Compression as a testable hypothesis whereby additional particle-mediated dispersal may modify the relative contributions of dispersal limitation and environmental selection to microbial community assembly. Rather than assuming that colonized particles transport intact functional consortia, the EIF distinguishes physical transport from microbial survival, establishment and the realization of ecological functions. We also examine how microplastics may influence carbon cycling through experimentally demonstrated effects on microbial activity, aggregation and sinking behavior, while considering the additional contribution of mobile microbial functional capacity as a hypothesis requiring direct validation. Potential consequences for ecosystem resilience are similarly expected to depend on environmental context, community composition and disturbance characteristics. By integrating plastisphere ecology with metacommunity theory and ecosystem functioning, this review provides a systems-level framework for evaluating when persistent synthetic particles may contribute to ecological connectivity and generates testable predictions concerning microbial dispersal, community assembly, biogeochemical processes and ecosystem resilience.
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Microplastics as Ecological Infrastructure: A Systems Perspective on Microbial Connectivity, Carbon Cycling, and Ecosystem Resilience
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Tiny bits of plastic floating in oceans and rivers aren't just pollution, they act like little rafts that carry entire communities of microbes (bacteria and other tiny organisms) to new places, potentially spreading them across ecosystems that would otherwise stay separate. This review paper argues that scientists should think of microplastics as a kind of infrastructure that can affect big-picture processes like carbon cycling and ecosystem health, though these ideas are still theoretical and need to be tested. While this research focuses on environmental impacts rather than direct human health effects, it matters because healthy oceans and rivers, and the microb
BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MICROPLASTICS IN AQUATIC ENVIRONMENTS: THE PLASTISPHERE — A NEW MARINE ECOSYSTEM
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This review examines the behavior of microplastics in aquatic environments with a focus on the Plastisphere - microbial communities colonizing plastic surfaces that form a novel marine ecosystem. The review synthesizes information on Plastisphere formation mechanisms, distribution in water, risks associated with pathogen and pollutant transport, and potential applications for removing microplastics from contaminated water.
Functional Ecology of the Microbial Plastisphere
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Scientists found that floating ocean plastic isn't just pollution, it's also a surface where microbes set up shop and behave differently than microbes floating freely in seawater, breaking down complex materials in specialized ways. This matters because it means plastic debris may be creating new microbial hotspots in the ocean, potentially changing how nutrients and pollutants cycle through marine ecosystems that ultimately connect to our food and health.
The Importance of Biofilms on Microplastic Particles in Their Sinking Behavior and the Transfer of Invasive Organisms between Ecosystems
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This review examined how microplastics serve as persistent substrates for microbial biofilm formation in natural environments, creating a novel ecological niche called the plastisphere that hosts distinct microbial communities. The authors discussed how these biofilms alter microplastic surface properties and may enhance the persistence and transport of plastic particles and associated microbes.
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