New insights of bacterial and eukaryotic phenotypes on the plastics collected from the typical natural habitat of the endangered crocodile lizard

Autor: Mujiao Xie, Mei Lv, Zhiwen Zhao, Linmiao Li, Haiying Jiang, Yepin Yu, Xiujuan Zhang, Ping Liu, Jinping Chen
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, Vol 280, Iss , Pp 116541- (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 0147-6513
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2024.116541
Popis: Although accumulating evidence indicates that endangered animals suffer from plastic pollution, this has been largely overlooked. Here, we explored the bacteria and eukaryotes living in the plastics gathered from the natural habitat of the highly endangered crocodile lizard. The results demonstrated that the bacterial and eukaryotic communities on plastics formed a unique ecosystem that exhibited lower diversity than those in the surrounding water and soil. However, microbes displayed a more complex and stable network on plastic than that in water or soil, implying unique mechanisms of stabilization. These mechanisms enhanced their resilience and contributed to the provision of stable ecological services. Eukaryotes formed a simpler and smaller network than bacteria, indicating different survival strategies. The bacteria residing on the plastics played a significant role in carbon transformation and sequestration, which likely impacted carbon cycling in the habitat. Furthermore, microbial exchange between plastics and the crocodile lizard was observed, suggesting that plastisphere serves as a mobile gene bank for the exchange of information, including potentially harmful substances. Overall, microbes on plastic appear to significantly impact the crocodile lizard and its natural habitat via various pathways. These results provided novel insights into risks evaluation of plastic pollution and valuable guidance for government efforts in plastic pollutant control in nature reserves.
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