Papers

20 results
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Article Tier 2

Can Microplastic Pollution Change Important Aquatic Bacterial Communities?

Microplastics in coastal sediments can change the composition of important bacterial communities that cycle nutrients and maintain ecosystem health. Microplastic-associated bacteria differ significantly from natural sediment bacteria, with potential consequences for the chemical processes these communities perform.

2021 Frontiers for Young Minds
Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastic particles on carbon source metabolism and bacterial community in freshwater lake sediments

A microcosm experiment tested how four common plastic types affect carbon metabolism and bacterial communities in freshwater lake sediments, finding that microplastics disrupted microbial carbon cycling and altered community composition.

2025 Environmental Pollution 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics on bacterial communities in lake wetland sediments: a comparison between drought and flooded conditions

Researchers established a sediment microcosm system for Poyang Lake wetland and examined the effects of polyethylene and polypropylene microplastics on bacterial community structure, functional genes, and ecological processes over 180 days under both simulated drought and flooded conditions.

2025 Journal of Environmental Management
Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics on nitrogen and phosphorus cycles and microbial communities in sediments

Researchers found that PVC, PLA, and polypropylene microplastics altered nitrogen and phosphorus cycling in freshwater sediments by shifting microbial community composition, with effects varying by polymer type and biodegradability.

2022 Environmental Pollution 107 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics alter the microbiota-mediated phosphorus profiles at sediment-water interface: Distinct microbial effects between sediment and plastisphere

This study found that microplastics in lake sediments change how bacteria process phosphorus, a key nutrient in freshwater ecosystems. Both petroleum-based and biodegradable microplastics altered bacterial communities and phosphorus cycling, but in different ways depending on whether bacteria were in the sediment or on the plastic surfaces. These changes could contribute to water quality problems like algal blooms that affect both ecosystems and the drinking water supply.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Complex microplastics significantly influence the assembly process of lake bacterial communities

Researchers examined how complex environmental microplastics -- varying in abundance, shape, size, color, and polymer type -- influence bacterial community assembly in water and sediments of Taihu Lake, China. Microplastics were associated with shifts in bacterial community composition and assembly processes, with distinct communities forming on plastic surfaces compared to surrounding lake water and sediments.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Temporal dynamics of bacterial colonization on five types of microplastics in a freshwater lake

Researchers submerged five types of microplastics in a freshwater lake for about a year to study how bacterial communities colonize their surfaces over time. They found that different plastic types attracted distinct microbial communities, which changed significantly across seasons. The study reveals that microplastics serve as unique habitats for bacteria in freshwater, potentially influencing nutrient cycling and ecosystem dynamics.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Investigation of Soil-Dwelling Bacterial Community Changes Induced by Microplastic Ex posure Using Amplicon Sequencing

Researchers analyzed soil bacterial community composition after microplastic contamination, finding that different polymer types caused distinct shifts in microbial diversity and functional groups, with implications for soil nutrient cycling and agricultural productivity.

2025 Korean Science Education Society for the Gifted
Article Tier 2

In Situ Investigation of Plastic-Associated Bacterial Communities in a Freshwater Lake of Hungary

Researchers investigated plastic-associated bacterial communities on microplastic surfaces in a Hungarian freshwater lake, finding that the plastisphere harbored distinct microbial communities compared to surrounding water, including potential pathogens and plastic-degrading bacteria.

2021 Water Air & Soil Pollution 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Sediment bacterial and fungal communities exhibit distinct responses to microplastic types and sizes in Taihu lake

Researchers conducted microcosm experiments to study how polystyrene and polyethylene microplastics of different sizes affect sediment bacterial and fungal communities in Taihu Lake over 60 days. They found that microplastics reduced microbial diversity and significantly altered community structures, with particle size being the most influential factor. The study suggests that microplastic pollution in lake sediments may disrupt natural biogeochemical processes by shifting microbial community composition and network complexity.

2023 Environmental Pollution 29 citations
Article Tier 2

Biofilms in plastisphere from freshwater wetlands: Biofilm formation, bacterial community assembly, and biogeochemical cycles

Researchers studied how bacteria form biofilms on microplastic surfaces in freshwater wetlands and found that these plastic-associated communities differ significantly from natural soil bacteria. The microplastic biofilms had lower diversity but higher activity in carbon processing and nitrogen cycling genes. This means microplastics in wetlands can alter natural nutrient cycles, potentially affecting water quality in ecosystems that many communities rely on.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 83 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics Increase the Risk of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Water Pollution in a Freshwater Lake by Affecting Microbial Function in Biogenic Element Cycling: A Metagenomic Study

Researchers used metagenomic analysis to examine how microplastics affect microbial community function in a freshwater lake, finding that microplastic contamination disrupts biogenic element cycling processes and increases the risk of greenhouse gas emissions and water quality degradation.

2024
Article Tier 2

Uniqueness and Dependence of Bacterial Communities on Microplastics: Comparison with Water, Sediment, and Soil

Researchers compared bacterial communities on microplastics with those in water, sediment, and soil in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, finding that microplastic-associated communities are unique in composition and ecological function compared to surrounding environments.

2021 Microbial Ecology 38 citations
Article Tier 2

The impact of microplastics on lake communities: A mesocosm study

Researchers conducted a mesocosm experiment to assess how microplastic contamination affects lake communities, including zooplankton, macroinvertebrates, and fish. They found that microplastic exposure caused varying effects across organism groups, with some community-level changes observed over the study period. The study highlights that microplastic pollution can alter freshwater ecosystem dynamics beyond what has been documented in single-species laboratory studies.

2024 Chemosphere 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics affect sedimentary microbial communities and nitrogen cycling

A microcosm experiment showed that microplastics added to salt marsh sediment altered microbial community composition and disrupted nitrogen cycling, including reduced denitrification rates, suggesting that microplastic contamination could impair important biogeochemical functions.

2020 Nature Communications 1095 citations
Article Tier 2

Discrepancy strategies of sediment abundant and rare microbial communities in response to floating microplastic disturbances: Study using a microcosmic experiment

Using microcosm experiments with fluvial sediment exposed to four plastic types, researchers found that floating microplastics altered sediment microbial diversity and reduced bacteria involved in carbon and nitrogen cycling. Abundant microbial taxa were more sensitive to microplastic disturbance than rare taxa, and microplastics decreased network complexity and increased negative species interactions in microbial communities.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 46 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial Community Dynamics and Biogeochemical Cycling in Microplastic-Contaminated Sediment

This review summarizes current research on how microplastics alter microbial communities and nutrient cycling processes in sediments at the bottom of water bodies. Researchers found that the effects depend on the type of plastic, exposure duration, and the specific sediment environment, with biodegradable plastics causing the most significant changes. The study highlights that microplastics in sediments can reshape the microbial ecosystems that drive essential biogeochemical processes like carbon and nitrogen cycling.

2025 Nanomaterials 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial colonizers of microplastics in an Arctic freshwater lake

Researchers characterized the microbial communities that colonize biodegradable and non-biodegradable microplastics deployed in an Arctic freshwater lake over eleven days. The study found that the plastisphere microbial community was complex and differed from the surrounding water, with biodegradable plastic attracting distinct bacterial groups, suggesting that microplastic type influences which microorganisms colonize these particles in pristine environments.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 71 citations
Article Tier 2

Lacustrine plastisphere: Distinct succession and assembly processes of prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities and role of site, time, and polymer types

Researchers investigated how microbial communities colonize different types of microplastic polymers in freshwater lakes. The study found that bacteria and single-celled organisms follow distinct assembly patterns on microplastic surfaces, with colonization time, location, and polymer type all influencing community composition. These findings suggest microplastics serve as carriers that can promote microbial spread in aquatic environments.

2023 Water Research 36 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics increase impact of treated wastewater on freshwater microbial community

Microplastic particles added to treated wastewater effluent amplified the impact on freshwater microbial communities compared to effluent alone, disrupting both bacterial community composition and functional processes. The study suggests that microplastics in treated wastewater discharge may compound the ecological harm caused by residual effluent contaminants on receiving water microbiology.

2017 Environmental Pollution 263 citations