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Preliminary Survey of Fungal Communities Across a Plastics/No Plastics Transition on an Oregon Beach
Summary
Researchers conducted a preliminary survey of fungal communities at a beach location transitioning from plastic-contaminated to non-plastic zones in Oregon, investigating whether plastics alter fungal biodiversity and composition. The study identified fungi with potential plastic degradation capabilities, contributing to knowledge of the plastisphere fungal community.
Abstract Plastics pose an increasing and significant threat to both human and environmental health. While many fungi can degrade a variety of organic polymers, investigations into which fungi possess the potential to remediate environmental plastics contamination have only recently become a priority. To help address this need, we tested the null hypothesis that chronic plastics contamination has no impact on the fungal communities across a plastics/no plastics transition in a beach sand in northern Oregon. We used sieving and binocular microscopy of microplastics (particle size, 12.6µm +/-5.5µm, detection range 1-5000µm) to confirm the plastics/no plastics transition. We used paired plot design to collect samples across this transition and analyzed the fungal communities using high-throughput DNA sequencing methods for fungal ITS-2. Results indicated that the beach sand contaminated with plastics held an extensive fungal community, while un-contaminated sand held no fungal community at all. System dominants included Acremonium and Penicillium , both free-living ascomycete fungi that have shown plastics-degrading capabilities in lab studies, and the ectomycorrhizal genus, Russula a symbiotic fungus that has known plastics-degrading enzyme capabilities. Also amongst dominant genera was a human fungal pathogen (genus Malassezia ) that causes chronic skin disease. These results provide new fungal models for further studies of fungal and ectomycorrhizal remediation of plastics contaminated contaminated beach sand.
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