Microplastics increase impact of treated wastewater on freshwater microbial community
- Plastic pollution is a major global concern with several million microplastic particles entering every day freshwater ecosystems via wastewater discharge. Microplastic particles stimulate biofilm formation (plastisphere) throughout the water column and have the potential to affect microbial community structure if they accumulate in pelagic waters, especially enhancing the proliferation of biohazardous bacteria. To test this scenario, we simulated the inflow of treated wastewater into a temperate lake using a continuous culture system with a gradient of concentration of microplastic particles. We followed the effect of microplastics on the microbial community structure and on the occurrence of integrase 1 (intl), a marker associated with mobile genetic elements known as a proxy for anthropogenic effects on the spread of antimicrobial resistance genes. The abundance of intl increased in the plastisphere with increasing microplastic particle concentration, but not in the water surrounding the microplastic particles. Likewise, thePlastic pollution is a major global concern with several million microplastic particles entering every day freshwater ecosystems via wastewater discharge. Microplastic particles stimulate biofilm formation (plastisphere) throughout the water column and have the potential to affect microbial community structure if they accumulate in pelagic waters, especially enhancing the proliferation of biohazardous bacteria. To test this scenario, we simulated the inflow of treated wastewater into a temperate lake using a continuous culture system with a gradient of concentration of microplastic particles. We followed the effect of microplastics on the microbial community structure and on the occurrence of integrase 1 (intl), a marker associated with mobile genetic elements known as a proxy for anthropogenic effects on the spread of antimicrobial resistance genes. The abundance of intl increased in the plastisphere with increasing microplastic particle concentration, but not in the water surrounding the microplastic particles. Likewise, the microbial community on microplastic was more similar to the original wastewater community with increasing microplastic concentrations. Our results show that microplastic particles indeed promote persistence of typical indicators of microbial anthropogenic pollution in natural waters, and substantiate that their removal from treated wastewater should be prioritised. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.…
Verfasserangaben: | Ester M. EckertORCiD, Andrea Di CesareORCiD, Marie Therese KettnerORCiDGND, Maria Arias-AndresORCiDGND, Diego FontanetoORCiD, Hans-Peter GrossartORCiDGND, Gianluca CornoORCiD |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2017.11.070 |
ISSN: | 0269-7491 |
ISSN: | 1873-6424 |
Pubmed ID: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29216487 |
Titel des übergeordneten Werks (Englisch): | Environmental pollution |
Verlag: | Elsevier |
Verlagsort: | Oxford |
Publikationstyp: | Wissenschaftlicher Artikel |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Datum der Erstveröffentlichung: | 21.12.2017 |
Erscheinungsjahr: | 2017 |
Datum der Freischaltung: | 10.01.2022 |
Freies Schlagwort / Tag: | Anthropogenic pollution; Biofilm; Freshwater microbial communities; Integrase 1; Microplastics; Treated wastewater |
Band: | 234 |
Seitenanzahl: | 8 |
Erste Seite: | 495 |
Letzte Seite: | 502 |
Fördernde Institution: | COST-European Cooperation in Science and TechnologyEuropean Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST); Leibniz SAW project MikrOMIK [SAW-2014-IOW-2]; Universidad Nacional; Leibniz society; RAVE project of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowship under the |
Organisationseinheiten: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Biochemie und Biologie |
DDC-Klassifikation: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 57 Biowissenschaften; Biologie / 570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie |
Peer Review: | Referiert |
Publikationsweg: | Open Access / Green Open-Access |