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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Exaggerated interaction of biofilm-developed microplastics and contaminants in aquatic environments
ClearBiofilm-Developed Microplastics As Vectors of Pollutants in Aquatic Environments
This review examines how biofilms that form on microplastics in aquatic environments change their ability to absorb and transport pollutants. Researchers found that biofilm-coated microplastics can absorb more contaminants than clean microplastics and serve as vectors that transfer both pollutants and potentially harmful microorganisms through aquatic ecosystems.
Influence of biofilms on the adsorption behavior of nine organic emerging contaminants on microplastics in field-laboratory exposure experiments
Researchers studied how natural biofilms that form on microplastics in lake water affect the adsorption of nine emerging organic contaminants. The study found that biofilm colonization on microplastic surfaces can significantly alter how these particles interact with pollutants, in some cases increasing and in others decreasing contaminant uptake compared to clean microplastics.
Biofilm on microplastics in aqueous environment: Physicochemical properties and environmental implications
This review examines how bacteria and other microorganisms form sticky films called biofilms on microplastic surfaces in water. These biofilms change how microplastics move through the environment and increase their ability to absorb pollutants like heavy metals, pesticides, and antibiotics. Biofilm-coated microplastics may also carry harmful bacteria, making them a greater potential health risk than clean microplastic particles.
Microplastic-Associated Biofilms and Their Role in the Fate of Microplastics in Aquatic Environment
This review examines how microbial biofilms attached to microplastics in aquatic environments mediate the accumulation and transfer of chemical pollutants, exploring how the 'plastisphere' community influences the fate and ecotoxicological impact of microplastics and co-contaminants.
Interactions of microplastics with contaminants in freshwater systems: a review of characteristics, bioaccessibility, and environmental factors affecting sorption
This review examined how microplastics act as vectors for environmental contaminants in freshwater systems, analyzing the characteristics, bioaccessibility, and environmental factors that influence pollutant sorption onto plastic particles and their potential transfer to organisms including humans.
Colonization characteristics and surface effects of microplastic biofilms: Implications for environmental behavior of typical pollutants
This review examines how bacteria colonize microplastic surfaces in water, forming biofilms that change how the plastics behave in the environment. These biofilms alter the surface properties of microplastics and affect how they absorb and transport heavy metals and other pollutants. Understanding biofilm formation on microplastics is important because it can make the particles more dangerous by concentrating toxic substances that could eventually enter the food chain.
Biofilms Enhance the Adsorption of Toxic Contaminants on Plastic Microfibers under Environmentally Relevant Conditions
Researchers grew natural biofilms on plastic microfibers under realistic environmental conditions and measured changes in adsorption of two toxic contaminants, finding that biofilm formation substantially increased the fibers' capacity to bind pollutants, amplifying their potential as chemical vectors.
The role of microplastics biofilm in accumulation of trace metals in aquatic environments
This review examines how biofilms that form on microplastics in aquatic environments enhance the accumulation of trace metals from surrounding water. Researchers found that microorganisms colonizing plastic surfaces produce extracellular substances that facilitate metal sorption, effectively turning microplastics into concentrated carriers of metallic contaminants. The study highlights the dual pollution risk posed by microplastics serving as both physical pollutants and vehicles for toxic metal transport in waterways.
Research progress on the role of biofilm in heavy metals adsorption-desorption characteristics of microplastics: A review
This review examines how biofilm formation on microplastics in aquatic environments modifies their properties and changes how they adsorb and release heavy metals. Researchers found that biofilm-covered microplastics behave significantly differently than bare microplastics, which has important implications for understanding the combined environmental risks of microplastics and heavy metal contamination.
Microplastics in the environment: Interactions with microbes and chemical contaminants
This review covers what is known about microplastic interactions with microbes and co-occurring chemical contaminants in the environment, examining how biofilms on microplastics alter pollutant transport and the ecological consequences for soil, water, and atmospheric systems.
Adsorption of heavy metals by biofilm-coated microplastics in aquatic environments: Mechanisms, isotherm and kinetic processes, and influencing factors
This review synthesizes research on how biofilms—microbial coatings that naturally form on microplastics in water—alter the particles' ability to absorb heavy metals like lead, copper, and cadmium, finding that biofilmed microplastics generally adsorb more metal than bare plastic and that electrostatic forces and surface complexation are the dominant mechanisms. This matters because microplastics coated in both biofilm and toxic metals may deliver a double dose of contamination to organisms that ingest them. The review identifies key gaps, including how competitive metal mixtures and shifting biofilm composition over time affect this combined pollution risk.
Biofilm facilitates metal accumulation onto microplastics in estuarine waters
This study demonstrated that biofilm colonization on microplastics in estuarine waters significantly enhanced their sorption of metals such as copper and zinc, suggesting biofouling changes the contaminant-carrying capacity of plastic debris.
Impacts of Biofilm Formation on the Fate and Potential Effects of Microplastic in the Aquatic Environment
Researchers reviewed how biofilm formation on microplastic surfaces affects the fate and potential ecological effects of microplastics in aquatic environments, finding that biofilms alter particle buoyancy, surface chemistry, and interactions with organisms.
Influence of microplastics on nutrients and metal concentrations in river sediments
Researchers investigated how microplastics influence nutrient and metal concentrations in river sediments, finding that microplastics alter the distribution of pollutants through their capacity to adsorb contaminants and support biofilm formation on their hydrophobic surfaces.
In situ biofilm development on microplastics and its impact on PFAS adsorption in aquatic environment
Researchers deployed microplastics in a river system to allow natural biofilm colonization, then assessed how the resulting plastisphere affected PFAS adsorption. Biofilm formation substantially altered PFAS uptake onto microplastics, in some cases increasing adsorption, suggesting that biologically colonized microplastics behave as more effective PFAS carriers than virgin particles in natural water environments.
Biofilm formation strongly influences the vector transport of triclosan-loaded polyethylene microplastics
Researchers found that biofilm formation on polyethylene microplastics strongly influences their role as vectors for triclosan transport, with biofouled microplastics showing altered pollutant sorption capacity and different toxicity effects on Daphnia magna.
Microplastics as vectors of chemical contaminants and biological agents in freshwater ecosystems: Current knowledge status and future perspectives
This review examines how microplastics in freshwater ecosystems act as carriers for chemical pollutants and harmful microorganisms. Researchers found that pollutant concentrations on microplastic surfaces can be up to six times higher than in surrounding water, amplifying exposure risks for aquatic life and potentially humans. The findings highlight that microplastics are not just a pollution problem themselves but also a vehicle that spreads other contaminants through the food web.
Microplastics influence the fate of antibiotics in freshwater environments: Biofilm formation and its effect on adsorption behavior
Researchers found that biofilm formation on microplastics in freshwater environments enhanced antibiotic adsorption by 24-51%, with potential pathogens detected in all biofilm communities across PVC, PA, and HDPE plastics.
Sources, Mechanisms, and Interactions of Microplastics with Abiotic and Biotic Factors in Aquatic Environment
This review examines the sources, mechanisms, and interactions of microplastics with abiotic and biotic components of aquatic environments, covering adsorption of co-contaminants, biofilm formation, biological uptake pathways, and trophic transfer through food webs.
Microplastics as an emerging anthropogenic vector of trace metals in freshwater: Significance of biofilms and comparison with natural substrates
Scientists placed virgin polystyrene microplastics in a eutrophic urban lake and a drinking water reservoir for four weeks to allow biofilm development, then measured trace metal accumulation, finding that biofilm-coated microplastics accumulated significantly more metals than virgin plastics or natural substrates.
Microplastics–biofilm in aquatic ecosystem: Formation, pollutants complexation, greenhouse gas emission and ecotoxicology
This review examines how microplastics in water develop biofilms (layers of bacteria and other microorganisms) that make them stickier and more capable of absorbing harmful pollutants. These microplastic-biofilm combinations can carry heavy metals, organic contaminants, and disease-causing microorganisms through aquatic environments, and even contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. The findings are relevant to human health because contaminated microplastics with biofilms are more likely to carry toxic substances into the food chain.
Microplastics as vectors of contaminants
This review highlights the emerging role of microplastics as carriers of biological and chemical contaminants in water environments. Researchers note that while microplastic pollution is increasingly well-documented, the interactions between contaminants adsorbed onto microplastic surfaces and aquatic organisms remain poorly understood. The study stresses the need for further investigation into how microplastics may facilitate the transport and bioavailability of pollutants.
Microplastics as Vectors of Chemicals and Microorganisms in the Environment
This review examines microplastics as vectors for chemicals and microorganisms in the environment, discussing the 'plastisphere' concept, hydrophobic surface interactions that facilitate pollutant adsorption, biofilm formation, and the mechanisms by which microplastics transport contaminants and pathogens through aquatic systems.
Interaction of microplastics with metal(oid)s in aquatic environments: What is done so far?
This review assembled the mechanisms by which microplastics sorb hazardous metals and metalloids in aquatic environments, examining how weathering, biofilm formation, and environmental conditions influence the transport and bioavailability of these contaminants.