The "Platisphere": Thriving Microbial Life on Plastic Marine Debris

By: Jacqueline Reyes

The rise of global production has inevitably created an impact in marine environments, with plastics being the most abundant form of marine debris. While the effects of Plastic Marine Debris (PMD) in aquatic life have been well documented, not much is understood regarding the influence on other ocean ecosystems such as microbial communities. However, with the implementation of scanning electron microscopy and next-generation sequencing, scientists discovered a diverse array of microscopic organisms attached to PMD that was collected from multiple sites throughout the North Atlantic Ocean. The findings indicate how such forms of waste have served as a vessel for the colonization of thriving microbial communities, and allowed for the development of a new microbial ecosystem which scientists have called as the “Platisphere”. Small-subunit rRNA surveys also identified several hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria, suggesting that such microbes may contribute to the biodegration of plastic debris.

Figure from E. R. Zettler et al. 2013. The scanning electroscope image shows the presence of microbes flourishing on a piece of plastic marine debris.   

Original Article: Zettler ER, Mincer TJ, Amaral-Zetler LA. (2013). Life in the “platisphere”: microbial communities on plastic marine debris. Environ Sci Technol. 47(13):7137-7146.