Microplastics impair the feeding performance of a Mediterranean habitat-forming coral

Savinelli, Beatrice; Fernández, Tomás Vega; Galasso, Nicola Maria; D’Anna, Giovanni; Pipitone, Carlo; Prada, Fiorella; Zenone, Arturo; Badalamenti, Fabio; Musco, Luigi

doi:10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.104887

Cited by 69 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…The composition of MPD in surface waters of the Mediterranean Sea varies (similar to other marine regions), but polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) appear to be the most abundant plastic types ( Pedrotti et al, 2016 ; Suaria et al, 2016 ). Microplastics have been found floating in the Mediterranean surface waters ( Cozar et al, 2015 ; Suaria et al, 2016 ; de Haan et al, 2019 ) as well as in coastal and deep-sea sediments ( Vianello et al, 2013 ; Filgueiras et al, 2019 ; Kane et al, 2020 ), on beaches ( Asensio-Montesinos et al, 2019 ; Piperagkas et al, 2019 ), and even within marine biota, such as fish ( Giani et al, 2019 ), bivalves ( Gonçalves et al, 2019 ), and corals ( Savinelli et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial Communities on Plastic Polymers in the Mediterranean Sea

et al. 2021

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Plastic particles in the ocean are typically covered with microbial biofilms, but it remains unclear whether distinct microbial communities colonize different polymer types. In this study, we analyzed microbial communities forming biofilms on floating microplastics in a bay of the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. Raman spectroscopy revealed that the plastic particles mainly comprised polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS) of which polyethylene and polypropylene particles were typically brittle and featured cracks. Fluorescence in situ hybridization and imaging by high-resolution microscopy revealed dense microbial biofilms on the polymer surfaces. Amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene showed that the bacterial communities on all plastic types consisted mainly of the orders Flavobacteriales, Rhodobacterales, Cytophagales, Rickettsiales, Alteromonadales, Chitinophagales, and Oceanospirillales. We found significant differences in the biofilm community composition on PE compared with PP and PS (on OTU and order level), which shows that different microbial communities colonize specific polymer types. Furthermore, the sequencing data also revealed a higher relative abundance of archaeal sequences on PS in comparison with PE or PP. We furthermore found a high occurrence, up to 17% of all sequences, of different hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria on all investigated plastic types. However, their functioning in the plastic-associated biofilm and potential role in plastic degradation needs further assessment.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial Communities on Plastic Polymers in the Mediterranean Sea

et al. 2021

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“…Corals actively ingest (Allen et al, 2017;Hall et al, 2015;Reichert et al, 2019) or passively catch particles by adherence (Corona et al, 2020;Martin et al, 2019). This has been shown to interfere with the feeding performance of the corals (Mouchi et al, 2019;Savinelli et al, 2020). Additionally, leachates (e.g., phthalates) are likely transferred from the particles to the corals (Montano et al, 2020;Saliu et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactive effects of microplastic pollution and heat stress on reef-building corals

Reichert

Tirpitz

Anand

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Plastic pollution is an emerging stressor that increases pressure on ecosystems such as coral reefs that are already challenged by climate change. However, the effect of plastic pollution in combination with global warming is largely unknown. Thus, the goal of this study was to determine the cumulative effect of microplastic pollution with that of global warming on reef-building coral species and to compare the severity of both stressors. For this, we conducted a series of three controlled laboratory experiments and exposed a broad range of coral species (Acropora muricata, Montipora digitata, Porites lutea, Pocillopora verrucosa, and Stylophora pistillata) to microplastic particles in a range of concentrations (2.5-2,500 particles L-1) and mixtures (from different industrial sectors) at ambient temperatures and in combination with heat stress. We show that microplastic can occasionally have a negative effect on the corals' thermal tolerance. In comparison to heat stress, however, microplastic constitutes a minor stressor. While heat stress led to decreased photosynthetic efficiency of algal symbionts, and increased bleaching, tissue necrosis, and mortality, treatment with microplastic particles had only minor effects on the physiology and health of the tested coral species at ambient temperatures. These findings underline that while efforts to reduce plastic pollution should continue, they should not replace more urgent efforts to halt global warming, which are immediately needed to preserve remaining coral reef ecosystems.

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“…One group of organisms perhaps at particular risk from nanoand MPs are corals. Savinelli et al [130] have shown that MPs impair the feeding efficiency of Astroides calycularis polyps when they co-occur with food items. Such studies can be integrated for probabilistic risk assessments, e.g., Everaert et al [66] quantified the risk of MP for each year between 1950 and 2100 and found strong indications that 67% organisms in parts of the Mediterranean Sea will be at risk from MPs by 2100.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics in the Mediterranean marine environment: a combined bibliometric and systematic analysis to identify current trends and challenges

Papadimitriu¹,

Allinson²

2022

Micropl.&Nanopl.

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In recent decades, the potential toxicological and environmental effects of microplastics (MPs) in the Mediterranean Sea region have received growing attention. The number of studies in this area has increased; however, presently there is no scientometric perspective addressing this topic. The purpose of this study was to identify the intellectual base and research front using the visualization and analysis software, CiteSpace, in combination with a systematic review. We retrieved 150 articles, published in print or online as an early-access article between 1979 and 2020, from the Web of Science with a topic search related to MPs, environment, and uptake by biota. We then analysed synthesized networks of co-authorship (author, institution, country), co-citation (author document, journal) and co-occurring keywords. The annual publication output has trended upwards since 2011, with interest in MP abundance in the Mediterranean Sea particularly high in the past 5 years (2016–2020). Authors based in Italy accounted for 25% of the total publications, followed by Spain (16%); but overall publications from Belgium and the Netherlands were more influential. Major research themes identified include the abundance of MPs on beaches, in surface waters, sediments and biota. Secondary microplastics, such fibres and fragments, of a wide range of sizes and chemical composition were dominant in scientific reports, albeit citizen science collection of plastic resin pellets for International Pellet Watch suggests such primary MPs are also widespread, even if their numerical abundance from such collections is unclear. Few studies reported chemical contamination of MPs in the Mediterranean albeit a significant amount of information on the level of chemical contamination of plastic resin pellets is available on the International Pellet Watch website.

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Microplastics impair the feeding performance of a Mediterranean habitat-forming coral

Cited by 69 publications

References 51 publications

Microbial Communities on Plastic Polymers in the Mediterranean Sea

Microbial Communities on Plastic Polymers in the Mediterranean Sea

Interactive effects of microplastic pollution and heat stress on reef-building corals

Microplastics in the Mediterranean marine environment: a combined bibliometric and systematic analysis to identify current trends and challenges

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