Journal
CHEMOSPHERE
Volume 297, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134113
Keywords
microplastics; Polyethylene; Coral; Microbial community structure; Goniopora columna; Extracellular polymeric substance
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This study investigated the effects of microplastic (MP) concentration on the microbial community and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) of a representative scleractinian coral. The results showed that high MP concentration caused changes in the abundance of certain bacterial groups in the MP-associated EPS. The study also identified humic-like and fulvic-like substances as critical components produced by microbial activity.
Although the pollution of coral reefs by microplastics (MPs) is an environmental problem of global significance, the effects of MP concentration on scleractinian corals remain largely underexplored. Herein, we exposed a representative scleractinian coral (Goniopora columna) to different concentrations (5-300 mg L-1) of polyethylene microplastics (PE-MPs; 40-48 mu m) over seven days and evaluated the changes in microbial community and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) using fluorescence excitation-emission matrix spectroscopy and amplicon sequence variants (ASV). At a PE-MP concentration of 300 mg L-1, the relative abundance of Bacillus (Firmicutes phylum) and Ruegeria (Proteobacteria phylum) in PE-MP-associated EPS increased and decreased, respectively, while the effects of exposure depended on the particle size of the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS)-based matrix and the humification index. Humic-and fulvic-like substances were identified as critical EPS components produced by microbial activity. The results have shed new insights into short-term responses of G. columna during exposure to different PE-MP concentrations and reveal important coral-MP-microbiome interactions in coral reef ecosystems. Results demonstrated that the coral-MPs interactions should be further evaluated to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying ecotoxicological risks.
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