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The interaction between plastics and microalgae affects community assembly and nutrient availability
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Researchers found that plastic debris coated with biological growth (biofilm) — but not clean plastic — altered the community composition of microalgae and changed nutrient levels in the surrounding water. This suggests that plastic particles act as rafts carrying organisms between environments, potentially disrupting aquatic ecosystems in ways that have been largely overlooked.
Abstract The presence of plastics and microplastics in water environments has raised concerns for potential negative impacts. The broader ecological implications for ecosystem functioning are, however, still unknown. The interaction between phytoplankton community and plastics has, for example, been overlooked. Here, we investigated the role of plastic as a substrate for biofilm growth and how this affects the dispersal of terrestrial microalgae, potentially altering the assembly of pelagic communities. When exposing an artificially assembled microalgae community to pristine and biofouled plastic under laboratory-controlled conditions, we found that only biofouled plastic affected the final community structure and the content of available nutrients in water. This is due to the exchanged algal species between the biofilm and the pelagic community. The results from this batchwise pilot scale study indicate that plastic can act as a substrate for benthic and pelagic species, potentially affecting ecosystem functions, which have been overlooked so far.
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A critical review of interactions between microplastics, microalgae and aquatic ecosystem function
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This review of microplastic-microalgae interactions found that microplastics form distinct epiplastic algal communities that differ from surrounding water communities, and that the interactions are bidirectional — MP properties affect algal physiology while algal surface coatings alter MP behavior and fate.
Microplastic interactions with freshwater microalgae: Hetero-aggregation and changes in plastic density appear strongly dependent on polymer type
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Researchers studied interactions between microplastics and freshwater microalgae, finding that microplastics can physically attach to algal cells to form hetero-aggregates, altering both particle behavior and algal physiology.
Effects of biofouled plastics on phytoplankton community assembling and water chemistry: pilot study and implications for freshwater environments
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Researchers conducted a pilot laboratory study exposing a five-species freshwater phytoplankton community to pristine and biofouled polypropylene fragments to investigate whether plastic acts as a carrier for algal species dispersal and to assess effects on water biodiversity and chemistry in freshwater environments.
Impacts of Biofilm Formation on the Fate and Potential Effects of Microplastic in the Aquatic Environment
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Researchers reviewed how biofilm formation on microplastic surfaces affects the fate and potential ecological effects of microplastics in aquatic environments, finding that biofilms alter particle buoyancy, surface chemistry, and interactions with organisms.
Diatom and macroinvertebrate communities dynamic: a co-occurrence pattern analysis on plastic substrates
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Researchers examined how diatoms and invertebrates colonize plastic debris in wetlands, finding that plastic surfaces host distinct biological communities compared to natural substrates. This suggests that plastic pollution in wetlands disrupts natural ecosystem processes beyond direct physical harm to wildlife.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.