Journal
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Volume 403, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123577
Keywords
Microplastics; Biofilm; Metabolic function; Substrate type; Environmental factor
Categories
Funding
- National Science Funds for Creative Research Groups of China [51421006]
- National Natural Science Funds for Excellent Young Scholar [51722902]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [51979075, 51709081]
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [2019B14414]
- PAPD
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This study investigated the functional diversity of carbon metabolism in biofilms colonizing different substrates, including inert and microplastic materials, in freshwater ecosystems. The findings suggest that microplastics influence microbial-mediated carbon cycling in freshwater ecosystems, with substrate-specific functional diversity influenced by environmental factors.
Concerns are growing about the increasing amounts of microplastics (MPs) and their ecological impacts, especially the influences of plastisphere in the freshwater ecosystems. Although the microbial structure and composition of biofilms are investigated, knowledge of their microbial functions remains limited. Herein, we investigated the functional diversity of carbon metabolism in biofilms colonizing one inert (glass) and two MPs as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates incubated for 44 days in situ in the Niushoushan River, the Qinhuai River, and Donghu Lake. 2D confocal laser scanning microscopy images visualized distinct micro-structures and biofilm compositions on three substrates. BIOLOG ECO microplates indicated variation on carbon utilization capacities of biofilms of inert and MPs in three freshwater ecosystems. Biofilms on PET showed lower capacities and carbon metabolism rates than those on glass and PVC, indicating the presence of substrate-specific functional diversity. The Shannon-Wiener diversity, Simpson diversity and Shannon evenness indices for the Niushoushan River and Donghu Lake were ordered as glass > PVC > PET. Besides to MPs specific factors, environmental factors including nutrient (i.e., TN and TP) and turbidity largely shaped biofilm carbon metabolism. Overall findings demonstrated that as specific niches, MPs influenced microbial-mediated carbon cycling in the freshwater ecosystems and MPs-promoted microbial communities posed ecological significance.
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