Plastic leachates promote marine protozoan growth.

ABSTRACT: Millions of tons of plastic enter the ocean annually, yet the effects of their leachates on the microbial loop are poorly understood. This study investigates how dissolved organic carbon released from field-collected plastics and a bioplastic influences the growth of the protozoan Oxyrrhis marina and its associated bacterial community. Plastics increased dissolved organic carbon concentrations in seawater by 5 to 34-fold, stimulating O. marina growth by up to an order of magnitude compared with the control. After exposure to conventional beach plastic leachates and bioplastic leachates, O. marina exhibited growth rates up to 0.3 and 0.4 d$^{-1}$, respectively, even in the absence of microalgal prey. We estimated that each gram of microplastics could lead to daily assimilation of up to 0.7

SUBMITTER: Le Du-Carree J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12573266 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature