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Peer Review #2 of "Does plastic type matter? Insights into non-indigenous marine larvae recruitment under controlled conditions (v0.1)"
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This peer review evaluates a study examining whether the type of plastic material influences recruitment of non-indigenous marine species onto plastic debris, which is relevant to understanding how microplastics facilitate the spread of invasive species in marine ecosystems.
Marine plastic debris (MPD) is a global threat to marine ecosystems.Among countless ecosystem impacts, MPD can serve as a vector for marine 'hitchhikers' by facilitating transport and subsequent spread of unwanted pests and pathogens.The transport and spread of these non-indigenous species (NIS) can have substantial impacts on native biodiversity, ecosystem services/functions and hence, important economic consequences.Over the past decade, increasing research interest has been directed towards the characterization of biological communities colonizing plastic debris, the so called Plastisphere.Despite remarkable advances in this field, little is known regarding the recruitment patterns of NIS larvae and propagules on MPD, and the factors influencing these patterns.To address this knowledge gap, we used custom-made bioassay chambers and ran four consecutive bioassays to compare the settlement patterns of four distinct model biofouling organisms' larvae, including the three notorious invaders Crassostrea gigas, Ciona savignyi and Mytilus galloprovincialis, along with one sessile macroinvertebrate Spirobranchus cariniferus, on three different types of polymers, namely Low-Linear Density Polyethylene (LLDPE), Polylactic Acid (PLA), Nylon-6, and a glass control.Control bioassay chambers were included to investigate the microbial community composition colonizing the different substrates using 16S rRNA metabarcoding.We observed species-specific settlement patterns, with larvae aggregating on different locations on the substrates.Furthermore, our results revealed that C. savignyi and S. cariniferus generally favored Nylon and PLA, whereas no specific preference were observed for C. gigas and M. galloprovincialis.In addition, we did not detect significant differences in bacterial community composition between the tested substrates.Taken together, our results highlight the complexity of interactions between NIS larvae and plastic polymers.We conclude that several factors and their potential interactions
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