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Life on Plastics: Deep-Sea Foraminiferal Colonization Patterns and Reproductive Morphology
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Researchers examined deep-sea foraminifera colonizing plastic debris from ocean floors, finding that plastics serve as novel substrates enabling colonization and reproduction for these calcifying microorganisms, raising questions about ecological impacts of plastics on deep-sea benthic communities.
Plastic debris has become a persistent feature of deep-sea ecosystems, yet its role as a habitat for calcifying organisms remains poorly understood. Foraminifera colonization has been observed in significant numbers on plastic surfaces, suggesting that these materials serve as novel and significant deep-sea colonization sites for these abundant calcifying organisms. This study uses deep-sea experimental plastic substrates to examine the colonization and reproductive morphology of the benthic foraminifera Lobatula wuellerstorfi across three locations: Station M (4000 m), Oregon OOI (575 m), and Southern Hydrate Ridge (774 m). A total of 482 individuals were analyzed for morphometric traits, including proloculus diameter, to investigate reproductive morphotypes. The Oregon samples displayed a clear bimodal proloculus size distribution, consistent with alternating reproductive strategies, while Station M populations exhibited a broader, less defined bimodal distribution skewed toward megalospheric forms. A weak but significant increase in proloculus diameter over deployment duration was observed at Station M, suggesting a possible influence of experiment duration and/or substrate maturity and environmental conditions. These findings demonstrate that plastics can serve as persistent colonization sites for deep-sea foraminifera, offering a unique experimental platform to investigate benthic population dynamics, ecological plasticity, and potential geochemical implications, as well as the broader impacts of foraminifera on deep-sea biodiversity and biogeochemical cycling.
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Researchers found that deep-sea plastic debris hosts distinctive communities of bacteria and fungi that persist over long periods, forming a plastisphere in the deep ocean. The study shows that plastic surfaces support microbial colonisation that differs markedly from surrounding sediment communities.
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Scientists studying ocean plastic found that microbial communities growing on it are shaped mainly by when and where the plastic enters the water, not the type of plastic itself. They also spotted a possible parasite linked to diatoms (tiny algae vital to ocean food chains) living on these plastics, raising questions about how growing plastic pollution might disrupt marine ecosystems that humans rely on for food and oxygen.
Marine benthic foraminifera and microplastics (Accumulation and effects following short- and long-term exposure)
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This study examined whether benthic foraminifera — tiny shell-forming ocean floor organisms — accumulate microplastics and are affected by them after both short and long exposures. Foraminifera are important indicators of ocean health, and understanding microplastic effects on them helps build a broader picture of seafloor ecosystem impacts.
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Scientists found that floating ocean plastic isn't just pollution, it's also a surface where microbes set up shop and behave differently than microbes floating freely in seawater, breaking down complex materials in specialized ways. This matters because it means plastic debris may be creating new microbial hotspots in the ocean, potentially changing how nutrients and pollutants cycle through marine ecosystems that ultimately connect to our food and health.
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Researchers simulated deep-sea cold seep conditions to study how different microplastics affect microbial communities. They found that microplastics made the plastisphere microbial networks more fragile than surrounding environments and disrupted nitrogen cycling and methane metabolism, while potentially concentrating pathogenic species.
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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.