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Biodegradation of microplastic in freshwaters: A long‐lasting process affected by the lake microbiome
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Researchers used carbon-13-labelled polyethylene microplastics and stable isotope analysis to investigate biodegradation in freshwater lake environments, finding that while the lake microbiome can degrade polyethylene, the process is extremely slow and affected by the composition of the microbial community.
Plastics have been produced for over a century, but definitive evidence of complete plastic biodegradation in different habitats, particularly freshwater ecosystems, is still missing. Using 13 C-labelled polyethylene microplastics (PE-MP) and stable isotope analysis of produced gas and microbial membrane lipids, we determined the biodegradation rate and fate of carbon in PE-MP in different freshwater types. The biodegradation rate in the humic-lake waters was much higher (0.45% ± 0.21% per year) than in the clear-lake waters (0.07% ± 0.06% per year) or the artificial freshwater medium (0.02% ± 0.02% per year). Complete biodegradation of PE-MP was calculated to last 100-200 years in humic-lake waters, 300-4000 years in clear-lake waters, and 2000-20,000 years in the artificial freshwater medium. The concentration of 18:1ω7, characteristic phospholipid fatty acid in Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria, was a predictor of faster biodegradation of PE. Uncultured Acetobacteraceae and Comamonadaceae among Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria, respectively, were major bacteria related to the biodegradation of PE-MP. Overall, it appears that microorganisms in humic lakes with naturally occurring refractory polymers are more adept at decomposing PE than those in other waters.
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Researchers used carbon isotope tracing to show that biodegradable microplastics (PHA, PLA, PBS) alter the quantity and quality of dissolved organic matter in lake water and trigger "priming effects" — accelerating or suppressing decomposition of native organic carbon — with solar irradiation amplifying these impacts on freshwater carbon cycling.
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In one of the most rigorous field experiments of its kind, scientists added isotopically labelled polystyrene microplastics to an enclosed section of a Canadian lake and tracked whether plastic-derived carbon entered the food web over four months. They found no measurable leaching of carbon from the plastics into the water or into plankton and algae, suggesting that under natural lake conditions, polystyrene microplastics degrade extremely slowly. This is reassuring in one respect — carbon isn't quickly moving from plastics into aquatic food chains — but it also means microplastics persist in the environment for very long periods.
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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.