Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Distinctive patterns of bacterial community succession in the riverine micro-plastisphere in view of biofilm development and ecological niches

Scientists studied how bacterial communities develop on microplastics versus natural materials in river water and found that plastics support a distinct pattern of microbial colonization. The research identified specific bacteria capable of degrading microplastics and revealed that competition among microbes on plastic surfaces follows unexpected patterns compared to natural substrates.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Enhanced Fish Feeding Tendency toward Poly(vinyl chloride) Microplastics Colonized by Luminescent Bacteria

Researchers found that fish showed enhanced feeding tendency toward PVC microplastics colonized by specific biofilm communities, suggesting that the microbial coating makes plastic particles more attractive as food, potentially increasing voluntary ingestion of microplastics by fish in natural environments.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology Letters 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Unraveling Microplastic-Biofilm Nexus in Aquaculture: Diversity and Functionality of Microbial Communities and Their Effect on Plastic Traits

Researchers incubated five common types of microplastics in an aquaculture pond for 128 days and found that biofilm formation varied significantly depending on the plastic type, with polypropylene and polyethylene supporting the richest microbial communities. PET microplastics attracted more plastic-degrading bacteria like Pseudomonas, while all plastic types enriched potentially pathogenic microorganisms. The findings highlight how different microplastics selectively shape microbial colonization in aquaculture environments, with implications for both environmental health and food safety.

2024 ACS ES&T Water 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Characteristics of microplastic pollution and analysis of colonized-microbiota in a freshwater aquaculture system.

Researchers found microplastics averaging 288.53 items per liter in freshwater aquaculture ponds in China, dominated by transparent fibers and cellulose particles, and discovered that bacterial communities on microplastic surfaces had significantly higher species richness and diversity than those in surrounding water. The plastisphere communities were enriched with Proteobacteria, including cellulose-degrading and potentially pathogenic species.

2022 Environmental Pollution 38 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastics in our water: Fish microbiomes at risk?

This review examined how microplastics and leached plasticizers affect the gut microbiomes of freshwater and marine fish, summarizing evidence for dysbiosis and reduced microbial diversity and discussing potential consequences for fish immunity, metabolism, and environmental fitness.

2021 Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part D Genomics and Proteomics 25 citations
Article Tier 2

The Effect of Microplastics on Microbial Succession at Impaired and Unimpaired Sites in a Riverine System

Researchers compared microbial biofilm diversity on microplastic polymers and natural substrates at impaired and unimpaired riverine sites, examining how environmental nutrient loads, seasonality, and geography influence microbiome succession on plastic surfaces in freshwater ecosystems.

2024
Article Tier 2

Floating Microplastics with Biofilm Changes Feeding Behavior of Climbing Perch Anabas testudineus

Researchers investigated the feeding behaviour of climbing perch (Anabas testudineus) in response to floating expanded polystyrene pellets bearing biofilms of different ages and found that biofilm development altered fish feeding responses. Fish preferentially ingested biofilm-covered pellets over pristine ones, suggesting that microbial colonisation of plastic debris increases ingestion risk.

2025 Microplastics
Article Tier 2

Characteristics of microplastic pollution in golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus) aquaculture areas and the relationship between colonized-microbiota on microplastics and intestinal microflora

Researchers found that microplastics in golden pompano aquaculture areas colonize with distinct microbial communities that overlap with the fish's gut microbiota, increasing Proteobacteria and decreasing Firmicutes in the intestinal flora of fish living in more contaminated estuarine settings.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 39 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: New substrates for heterotrophic activity contribute to altering organic matter cycles in aquatic ecosystems

This study demonstrated that heterotrophic bacteria colonizing microplastic surfaces in aquatic ecosystems have distinct metabolic capabilities and can process organic matter at rates different from planktonic bacteria. The findings suggest that the plastisphere — the microbial community on plastic surfaces — may alter organic matter cycling in aquatic environments as microplastic abundance grows.

2018 The Science of The Total Environment 193 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

Nascently generated microplastics in freshwater stream are colonized by bacterial communities from stream and riparian sources

Researchers examined bacterial colonization of different types of nascently generated microplastics through time in a freshwater stream ecosystem, finding that colonizing taxa and their degradative abilities varied based on microplastic polymer type and time of exposure.

2024 Journal of Environmental Quality 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: A tissue-specific threat to microbial community and biomarkers of discus fish (Symphysodon aequifasciatus)

Researchers found that polystyrene microplastics cause tissue-specific effects in discus fish, inhibiting growth, altering microbial communities in skin, gills, and intestine, and disrupting biomarker responses in a concentration-dependent manner after 28 days of exposure.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 47 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in freshwaters: Comparing effects of particle properties and an invertebrate consumer on microbial communities and ecosystem functions

Researchers tested how different microplastic properties, including concentration, shape, and polymer type, affect microbial communities and ecosystem functions in freshwater environments. They found that the presence of an invertebrate consumer had a stronger influence on microbial activity than the microplastics themselves, though high concentrations of certain particle shapes did alter community composition. The study suggests that the ecological effects of microplastics in freshwater depend heavily on the broader biological context.

2025 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Ingested Microplastics Can Act as Microbial Vectors of Ichthyofauna

Nylon strips ingested and excreted by wild fish were found to harbor adherent microbiota including potential pathogens, demonstrating that microplastics can vector microorganisms through fish gut passage and into aquatic environments.

2024 Microbiology Research 8 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

Microplastic pollution in aquatic environments may facilitate misfeeding by fish

Researchers found that biofilm formation on microplastic surfaces in freshwater environments facilitates fish misidentification of plastics as food, with the probability of capture increasing significantly as biofilm aging progressed over weeks.

2022 Environmental Pollution 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics on the structure and function of bacterial communities in sediments of a freshwater lake

Researchers examined how microplastics alter the structure and function of bacterial communities in sediments, finding that plastic exposure shifted community composition and reduced overall diversity compared to plastic-free controls. Functional analysis showed impaired denitrification and organic matter decomposition in microplastic-contaminated sediments, indicating ecosystem-level consequences for nutrient cycling.

2024 Chemosphere 9 citations
Article Tier 2

No trophy for the trophy? - How lake trophy impacts bacterial assemblages of biofilm on microplastic

A field experiment incubating microplastics in five lakes with different nutrient levels (trophy) found that bacterial biofilm composition on MPs was dominated by Proteobacteria and differed significantly from free-water communities, but lake trophy had limited influence on overall biofilm diversity. This suggests that plastic surfaces create a distinct microbial niche independent of the surrounding water quality, with implications for how plastic-associated bacteria spread through freshwater ecosystems.

2023 Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Occurrence and characterization of microplastic content in the digestive system of riverine fishes

Researchers found microplastics in 93.8% of riverine fish examined, with polystyrene, polyethylene, and nylon being the most common polymer types concentrated near urban and industrial areas, and small particles (0.025-1 mm) predominating across species.

2021 Journal of Environmental Management 32 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Passage through the Fish and Crayfish Digestive Tract Alters Particle Surface Properties

Researchers examined how polyethylene microplastics are altered as they pass through the digestive tracts of crucian carp and Australian crayfish. They found that digestive passage significantly damaged particle surfaces and reduced microplastic size without changing chemical composition, and these changes promoted greater bacterial colonization. The findings suggest that animal feeding activity plays an important role in mechanically fragmenting microplastics in aquatic environments.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology 6 citations
Article Tier 2

The Characteristics of Intestinal Bacterial Community in Three Omnivorous Fishes and Their Interaction with Microbiota from Habitats

This study examined the gut bacterial communities of three omnivorous fish species in artificial fishery habitats, comparing them to bacteria in the surrounding water and sediment. Fish gut microbiomes partially reflected the environmental microbiota, suggesting habitat quality affects fish gut health. This is relevant to microplastics because microplastics alter both aquatic microbial communities and fish gut microbiomes.

2021 Microorganisms 15 citations
Article Tier 2

The effect of planktivorous fish on the vertical flux of polystyrene microplastics

Researchers experimentally tested whether planktivorous fish accelerate the vertical flux of polystyrene microplastics to sediments in thermally stratified water columns, finding that fish actively transport microplastic beads downward through combined sedimentation enhancement and vertical migration behavior.

2023 The European Zoological Journal 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Wastewater-induced microplastic biofouling in freshwater: role of particle size and flow velocity

This study examined how wastewater discharge promotes biofouling — the colonization of microplastics by microorganisms — in freshwater environments, finding that particle size and wastewater-derived nutrients both influenced biofilm formation rates and community composition. Wastewater-exposed microplastics rapidly developed distinct microbial communities.

2024 Environmental Science Advances 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbiomes on microplastics versus natural microcarriers: Stability and transformation during aquatic travel from aquaculture ponds to adjacent stream

Researchers compared microbial communities that form on microplastics versus natural materials as they travel from aquaculture ponds to adjacent streams. They found that different plastic types harbored distinct microbial communities, and that these plastisphere communities were less stable than those on natural substrates during transit between water bodies. The study suggests that microplastics may spread different assemblages of microorganisms as they move through connected aquatic environments.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 10 citations