Persistence of plastic debris and its colonization by bacterial communities after two decades on the abyssal seafloor.

Scientific Reports
S KrauseM Haeckel

Abstract

The fate of plastic debris entering the oceans is largely unconstrained. Currently, intensified research is devoted to the abiotic and microbial degradation of plastic floating near the ocean surface for an extended period of time. In contrast, the impacts of environmental conditions in the deep sea on polymer properties and rigidity are virtually unknown. Here, we present unique results of plastic items identified to have been introduced into deep-sea sediments at a water depth of 4150 m in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean more than two decades ago. The results, including optical, spectroscopic, physical and microbial analyses, clearly demonstrate that the bulk polymer materials show no apparent sign of physical or chemical degradation. Solely the polymer surface layers showed reduced hydrophobicity, presumably caused by microbial colonization. The bacterial community present on the plastic items differed significantly (p < 0.1%) from those of the adjacent natural environment by a dominant presence of groups requiring steep redox gradients (Mesorhizobium, Sulfurimonas) and a remarkable decrease in diversity. The establishment of chemical gradients across the polymer surfaces presumably caused these conditions. Our findings...Continue Reading

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Citations

Nov 17, 2020·The Science of the Total Environment·Ayodeji AmobonyeSanthosh Pillai
Jan 22, 2021·Environmental Science. Processes & Impacts·Chloe Wayman, Helge Niemann
Dec 12, 2020·The Science of the Total Environment·Carlos Sanz-LázaroAna Beltrán-Sanahuja
Jan 9, 2021·Marine Environmental Research·Anderson Targino da Silva FerreiraCarlos Henrique Grohmann
Apr 21, 2021·Environmental Microbiology·Sonja OberbeckmannStephanie Markert
Jul 31, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Jean-Baptiste Fleury, Vladimir A Baulin
Sep 15, 2021·Environmental Science & Technology·Rolf U HaldenFarhan R Khan
Jan 30, 2022·The Science of the Total Environment·Sara ClouxVicente Pérez Muñuzuri

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Datasets Mentioned

BETA
PRJEB33205

Methods Mentioned

BETA
PCA
environmental stress
PCR
Raman spectroscopy
scanning electron microscopy

Software Mentioned

DISCOL
ALDEx2
PERMANOVA
illumina
Vegan
SILVA Incremental Aligner
QIMERA
R
DISCOL OFOS
GMT

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