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Salinity significantly reduces plastic-degrading bacteria from rivers to oceans
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Researchers studied how bacterial communities attached to microplastics change as the plastics travel from rivers to offshore marine waters in Macau, China. The study found that microplastics significantly enriched plastic-degrading bacteria in both environments, but the proportion of plastic-related metabolic pathways was higher in river bacteria than in offshore bacteria. Evidence indicates that salinity is a key factor reducing the abundance of plastic-degrading bacteria, suggesting that microplastics may degrade more slowly in oceans.
Microplastics (MPs) are found in rivers and offshore areas. However, there is a lack of detailed research on the changes of surface microbial species attached to MPs when MPs enter the sea. Moreover, no study has been conducted on changes to plastic-degrading bacteria during this process. In this study, using rivers and offshore in Macau, China as examples, bacterial diversity and bacterial species composition attached to surface water and MPs at four river sampling stations and four offshore sampling stations around Macau were studied. Plastic-degrading bacteria, plastic-related metabolic processes, and plastic-related enzymes were analyzed. The results showed that MPs-attached bacteria in rivers and offshore were different with the planktonic bacteria (PB). The proportion of major families on the surface of MPs continued to increase from rivers to estuaries. MPs could significantly enrich plastic-degrading bacteria both in rivers and offshore. The proportion of plastic-related metabolic pathways on the surface bacteria of MPs in rivers was higher than that in offshore waters. Bacteria on the surface of MPs in rivers may induce higher plastic degradation than offshore. Salinity significantly alters the distribution of plastic-degrading bacteria. MPs may degrade more slowly in the oceans, posing a long-term threat to marine life and human health.
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