engleski

"Plastic biome"–primary colonization of different plastic foils in the marine environment

Plastics are omnipresent in the marine environment and presents an appropriate matrix for microorganism attachment and development. Understanding the interaction between plastic and marine microorganisms is a key issue in assessing the ecological impact of plastic pollution in the marine environment. Plastic foils and plastic bags are due to their mobility one of the more prominent constituents of marine plastic litter. The initial biofilm formation on four types of plastic foils was investigated. The foils used in this experiment were made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), high- density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and two biodegradable types, one containing an EPI additive (Earth Rated®) and the other was starch based (Profissimo compostable). The experiment was carried out during two seasons (summer and winter) to observe seasonal variation in community structure and abundance. Biofilms of specific weight equal to the substrate were formed after 11 days in the summer season and 13 days in the winter. On five different types of plastic 38 taxa were identified. However, the difference in total abundance per season was significant, in the summer was 15 times higher than in winter. The most abundant species were small diatoms from the order Pennates. A statistically significant difference was found between LDPE and other plastic materials regarding the morphology and biovolume of the taxa.

phytoplankton ; Adriatic Sea ; diatoms ; plasticbiome

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