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Biofilms on Plastic Debris and Their Influence on Marine Nutrient Cycling, Productivity, and Hazardous Chemical Mobility

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Book cover Hazardous Chemicals Associated with Plastics in the Marine Environment

Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 78))

Abstract

Plastic debris is entering our oceans at an alarming rate and almost instantaneously colonized by a microbial biofilm that is unique from the microbial flora in surrounding waters. Microbial inhabitants on plastic marine debris (PMD) are now known to fluctuate depending upon season, geographic location, substrate, and age. Cursory calculations estimate a range of 1,000–15,000 metric tons of microbial biomass harbored on PMD. Here, we consider the significance and implications of this large amount of microbial metabolic potential that PMD carries and pose future research questions involving the implications of this relatively recent anthropogenic substrate and its diverse microbial inhabitants.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole, MA, USA

    Tracy J. Mincer

  2. Sea Education Association, Woods Hole, MA, USA

    Erik R. Zettler

  3. Marine Biological Laboratory, Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Woods Hole, MA, USA

    Linda A. Amaral-Zettler

  4. Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Linda A. Amaral-Zettler

Authors
  1. Tracy J. Mincer
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  2. Erik R. Zettler
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  3. Linda A. Amaral-Zettler
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tracy J. Mincer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry (LOG), Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Hideshige Takada

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, Patras, Greece

    Hrissi K. Karapanagioti

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Mincer, T.J., Zettler, E.R., Amaral-Zettler, L.A. (2016). Biofilms on Plastic Debris and Their Influence on Marine Nutrient Cycling, Productivity, and Hazardous Chemical Mobility. In: Takada, H., Karapanagioti, H.K. (eds) Hazardous Chemicals Associated with Plastics in the Marine Environment. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 78. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2016_12

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