Temporal changes in microalgal biomass and species composition on different plastic polymers in nutrient-enriched microcosm experiments.

Autor: Baek SH; Ecological Risk Research Department, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Geoje 53201, Republic of Korea; Department of Ocean Science, University of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea., Lee CH; Ecological Risk Research Department, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Geoje 53201, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: chlee9201@kiost.ac.kr., Park JS; Library of Marine Samples, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Geoje 53201, Republic of Korea., Yoon JN; Strategy and Planning Office, Geosystem Research Corporation, Gunpo 15807, Republic of Korea., Lim YK; Ecological Risk Research Department, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Geoje 53201, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: limyk0913@kiost.ac.kr.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2024 Oct 10; Vol. 946, pp. 174352. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jul 03.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174352
Abstrakt: Marine plastic debris (MPD) is a potential threat to marine ecosystems, but its function as a vector for the transportation of harmful microalgae and its impact on the habitats of other marine organisms are uncertain. To address this gap in knowledge, we performed month-long experiments in 30 L microcosms that contained plates made of six different plastic polymers (polypropylene [PP], low-density polyethylene [LDPE], high-density polyethylene [HDPE], polyvinyl chloride [PVC], polyethylene terephthalate [PET], and polystyrene [PS]), and examined the time course of changes in planktonic and periphytic microalgae. There were no significant differences in the composition of periphytic microalgae or biomass among the different plastic polymers (p > 0.05). Nutrient depletion decreased the abundance of planktonic microalgae, but increased the biomass of attached periphytic microalgae (p < 0.05). In particular, analysis of the plastic plates showed that the abundance of benthic species that are responsible for harmful algal blooms (HABs), such as Amphidinium operculatum and Coolia monotis, significantly increased over time (days 21-28; p < 0.05). Our findings demonstrated that periphyton species, including benthic microalgae that cause HABs, can easily attach to different types of plastic and potentially spread to different regions and negatively impact these ecosystems. These observations have important implications for understanding the potential role of MPD in the spread of microalgae, including HABs, which pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: