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Plastic leachates promote marine protozoan growth
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Researchers studied how chemicals leaching from ocean plastics affect the growth of a marine protozoan and its associated bacteria. They found that plastic leachates dramatically increased dissolved organic carbon in seawater, boosting protozoan growth by up to ten times compared to controls. The study suggests that plastic pollution may be altering the base of marine food webs by providing an unnatural carbon source that shifts microbial community dynamics.
Millions of tons of plastic enter the ocean annually, yet the effects of their leachates on the microbial loop are poorly understood. This study investigates how dissolved organic carbon released from field-collected plastics and a bioplastic influences the growth of the protozoan Oxyrrhis marina and its associated bacterial community. Plastics increased dissolved organic carbon concentrations in seawater by 5 to 34-fold, stimulating O. marina growth by up to an order of magnitude compared with the control. After exposure to conventional beach plastic leachates and bioplastic leachates, O. marina exhibited growth rates up to 0.3 and 0.4 d$^{-1}$, respectively, even in the absence of microalgal prey. We estimated that each gram of microplastics could lead to daily assimilation of up to 0.7 g of carbon per gram of protozoan, indicating that plastic-derived carbon enhances heterotrophic metabolism in the microbial loop through osmotrophy. Given that autotrophic prokaryotes are negatively impacted by plastic leachates and that plastic pollution is expected to triple in the coming decades, plastic leaching could alter the balance between microbial primary production and heterotrophy in the ocean.
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Dissolved organic carbon leaching from plastics stimulates microbial activity in the ocean
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Researchers discovered that ocean plastics continuously leach dissolved organic carbon into seawater — an estimated 23,600 metric tons per year globally — fueling the growth of bacteria at the base of the marine food web. Because plastic pollution is projected to increase tenfold in the coming decade, this plastic-derived carbon input could significantly alter microbial communities and ocean chemistry in ways not yet fully understood.
Plastic leachates impair growth and oxygen production in Prochlorococcus, the ocean’s most abundant photosynthetic bacteria
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Researchers found that chemicals leaching from common plastic items — high-density polyethylene bags and PVC matting — severely impaired growth and photosynthesis in Prochlorococcus, the ocean's most abundant photosynthetic bacteria and a critical driver of global oxygen production. This suggests plastic pollution in the ocean could disrupt the very base of the marine food web.
Structure and activity of marine bacterial communities responding to plastic leachates.
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Researchers investigated which marine bacterial communities respond to organic compounds leached from plastic debris in the ocean. They found that plastic leachates selectively enriched certain bacterial groups and altered community structure compared to seawater controls. The study suggests that plastic pollution not only introduces foreign materials but also chemically reshapes microbial communities in marine ecosystems.
Plastic leachates impair picophytoplankton and dramatically reshape the marine microbiome
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Researchers found that chemicals leaching out of plastic debris can severely disrupt marine microbial communities, damaging tiny photosynthetic organisms (picophytoplankton) and dramatically reshaping the ocean microbiome. These findings reveal that plastic pollution harms ocean life not just physically but through chemical contamination, with potential consequences for the entire marine food web.
Plastic pollution fosters more microbial growth in lakes than natural organic matter
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Researchers discovered that chemicals leaching from plastic shopping bags are far more available as food for bacteria than natural organic matter found in lakes, causing bacterial populations to grow more than twice as large. This means plastic pollution doesn't just physically harm aquatic life — it chemically rewires freshwater food webs.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.