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Papers
61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Exploring the City of Biofilms: An Engaging Analogy-Based Activity for Students to Learn Biofilms
ClearIsolating Microplastics from Biofilm Communities
This study developed a protocol for isolating and observing microplastics from biofilm communities in urban waterways, and successfully integrated the method into a project-based learning curriculum for high school science education.
Investigating Biofilms: Advanced Methods for Comprehending Microbial Behavior and Antibiotic Resistance
This review summarizes recent advances in biofilm research, focusing on how communities of microorganisms form protective layers on surfaces and become resistant to antibiotics. The sticky matrix that holds biofilms together plays a key role in spreading antibiotic resistance genes between bacteria. While not directly about microplastics, the findings are relevant because microplastics in the environment serve as surfaces where these resistant biofilms can form and spread.
Structural and Functional Characteristics of Microplastic Associated Biofilms in Response to Temporal Dynamics and Polymer Types
Researchers found that biofilm structural and functional characteristics on microplastics differ significantly depending on polymer type (polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene) and change over time, with implications for understanding microbial colonization and the plastisphere.
(micro)Plastic biofilms: Keeping afloat by carving out a new niche
This review examined how microplastics accumulate microbial biofilms, creating a distinct ecological niche with unique community composition and metabolic activities. The microplastic biofilm, or plastisphere, can harbor pathogens and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, raising concerns about plastic particles as vectors of biological hazards.
Microbial Dynamics on Different Microplastics in Coastal Urban Aquatic Ecosystems: The Critical Roles of Extracellular Polymeric Substances
Researchers investigated how microbial communities colonize different types of microplastics in urban coastal waters, forming distinct ecosystems known as plastispheres. They found that the type of plastic significantly shaped which bacteria grew on it and how much sticky extracellular material they produced. Understanding these microbial communities on microplastics matters because they can harbor harmful bacteria and influence how pollutants move through aquatic environments.
The Importance of Biofilms to the Fate and Effects of Microplastics
This review examines how biofilms — communities of microorganisms that form on microplastic surfaces — affect the fate and ecological effects of plastic pollution. Biofilm formation alters how microplastics are transported, ingested, and degraded in the environment, and the plastisphere can harbor pathogens and antibiotic-resistant bacteria that may pose risks to human health.
Biofilms on plastic litter in an urban river: Community composition and activity vary by substrate type
Researchers examined biofilms colonizing plastic litter versus natural surfaces in an urban river, finding that community composition and metabolic activity vary by substrate type, with plastic surfaces hosting distinct microbial communities that may influence plastic degradation rates.
Ecotoxicological and health implications of microplastic-associated biofilms: a recent review and prospect for turning the hazards into benefits
This review examined the ecological and health implications of biofilms that form on microplastics, discussing how these plastisphere communities can harbor pathogens and alter microplastic properties, while also exploring potential beneficial applications of microplastic-associated biofilms.
A Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) using Ocean Plastic Microbes as a Framework that Is Impactful for Both In-Person and Online Course Modalities
This paper is not directly about microplastics as an environmental hazard; it describes a course-based undergraduate research experience built around studying microbes that colonize ocean plastic debris, using it as a pedagogical framework for biology laboratory courses.
Role of Microplastics as Attachment Media for the Growth of Microorganisms
Researchers reviewed how microplastics serve as attachment media for microbial growth, finding that biofilms forming on microplastic surfaces create unique microbial communities — including potential pathogens — that differ from those in surrounding environments.
(micro)Plastic biofilms: Keeping afloat by carving out a new niche
This review examined how microplastics serve as persistent substrates for microbial biofilm formation in natural environments, creating a novel ecological niche called the plastisphere that hosts distinct microbial communities. The authors discussed how these biofilms alter microplastic surface properties and may enhance the persistence and transport of plastic particles and associated microbes.
Non-Invasive Measurement, Mathematical Simulation and In Situ Detection of Biofilm Evolution in Porous Media: A Review
Researchers used non-invasive techniques and mathematical models to study how bacterial biofilms form and clog porous materials in subsurface environments. Biofilm formation on microplastics — the so-called Plastisphere — is a key mechanism by which these particles interact with microbial communities in soil and water.
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.
Structural Diversity in Early-Stage Biofilm Formation on Microplastics Depends on Environmental Medium and Polymer Properties
This study examined the early stages of bacterial biofilm formation on different types of plastic surfaces in different environmental media, finding that both the growth medium and the polymer type influenced which microbial communities colonized the plastic. These plastic-associated biofilms (the plastisphere) can make microplastics more appealing to filter-feeding organisms that mistake them for food.
Substrate geometry affects population dynamics in a bacterial biofilm
This study examined how surface geometry affects the population dynamics of bacterial biofilms, finding that non-flat surfaces significantly influence how biofilm communities grow and compete. These findings are relevant to understanding how biofilms form on microplastic surfaces in aquatic environments.
Association between microplastics and biofilm: a new perspective for monitoring microplastics in urban rivers
Researchers reviewed the use of biofilms as a monitoring matrix for microplastics in urban rivers, drawing on literature about microplastic occurrence in Brazilian rivers and biofilm-associated adsorption of emerging contaminants in freshwater. The study argues that biofilm analysis offers a complementary perspective to water and sediment monitoring because biofilms accumulate pollutants over days, providing an integrated signal of microplastic exposure in the water column.
Biofilm formation and its implications on the properties and fate of microplastics in aquatic environments: A review
Researchers reviewed how microplastics in water attract and support communities of bacteria and other microorganisms that form biofilms — living coatings that alter the plastic particles' movement, help them carry pathogens, and affect how toxic chemicals attached to the plastic are absorbed by living things. Understanding this "plastisphere" ecosystem is critical for predicting where microplastics go and how harmful they become.
Biofilm Formation of Clinically Important Bacteria on Bio-Based and Conventional Micro/Submicron-Sized Plastics.
This study compared how clinically important bacteria form biofilms on bio-based versus conventional plastic surfaces of similar size, finding differences in biofilm formation patterns between bioplastics and their conventional equivalents. The results suggest that the push to replace conventional plastics with bioplastics should consider how these materials interact with potentially harmful bacteria.
Microplastic-Associated Biofilms: A Comparison of Freshwater and Marine Environments
This review compared microplastic-associated biofilm communities in freshwater and marine environments, examining how plastic type, ecosystem, and environmental conditions shape the microbial communities that colonize plastic surfaces. Understanding these "plastisphere" communities is important because they may include pathogens and can affect the fate and transport of plastic particles.
Environmental Health and Safety Implications of the Interplay Between Microplastics and the Residing Biofilm
This review examines the two-way relationship between microplastics and biofilms, the communities of microorganisms that quickly colonize plastic surfaces in the environment. Biofilms on microplastics can harbor harmful bacteria, concentrate toxic chemicals, and help spread antibiotic resistance genes through water systems. Understanding this interplay is important for human health because these contaminated biofilm-coated microplastics can enter drinking water and food supplies.
Microbial biofilm formation and community structure on low-density polyethylene microparticles in lake water microcosms
Researchers investigated biofilm formation on low-density polyethylene microparticles in lake water microcosms, finding that microplastic surfaces supported distinct and dynamic microbial communities that differed from those in the surrounding water.
Microplastics in urban waters and its effects on microbial communities: a critical review
This critical review examined microplastic pollution in urban freshwater systems and its effects on microbial communities including water microbiomes and biofilm communities. The authors found evidence that microplastics alter microbial diversity, promote antibiotic resistance gene transfer, and disrupt carbon and nutrient cycling.
Microplastic surface biofilms: a review of structural assembly, influencing factors, and ecotoxicity
This review explores how microbial biofilms form on microplastic surfaces in natural environments, creating tiny ecosystems known as the plastisphere. Researchers found that these biofilms change the physical and chemical properties of microplastics and can significantly alter their toxicity to living organisms. The study emphasizes that most toxicity research still uses pristine microplastics, which may not accurately reflect the real-world risks posed by biofilm-coated particles.
Microplastic biofilm in fresh- and wastewater as a function of microparticle type and size class
Researchers compared the biofilm communities that form on microplastics of different types and sizes in both freshwater and wastewater, finding that biofilm composition was influenced by particle type, size, and water source. These findings advance understanding of the plastisphere — the microbial community unique to plastic surfaces — and its potential role in spreading microorganism-associated risks.