Can Microplastic Pollution Change Important Aquatic Bacterial Communities?

Scientists have discovered that microplastics are polluting many environments worldwide, including our oceans and coastlines. Some of these plastics will make their way into a particularly important environment—coastal sediments, or the layer of mud below the water. This sediment is home to diverse bacterial life, which plays a key role in nutrient cycles of the ecosystem. These bacteria are critical for healthy environments, but are also easily affected by environmental pollution. Unfortunately, little is known about how the bacteria respond to microplastic pollution. We studied the effects of different microplastics on bacteria living in marine sediments, as well as the subsequent impacts on nutrient cycling. We found, for the first time, that different microplastics can significantly alter these bacterial communities and the nitrogen cycle, which should be studied further to understand lasting impacts on our natural environments.