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Plastics stimulates microbial activity in the ocean

18.04.2018

Approximately 5.25 trillion plastic pieces are floating at the sea surface. The impact of plastic pollution on the lowest trophic levels of the food web, however, remains unknown.

Maria Pinto and Gerhard J. Herndl from the Department of Limnology and Bio-Oceanography show that plastics release dissolved organic carbon (DOC) into the ambient seawater, stimulating the activity of heterotrophic microbes. [read more]

"Dissolved organic carbon leaching from plastics stimulates microbial activity in the ocean": Cristina Romera-Castillo, Maria Pinto, Teresa Langer, Xose Anton Álvarez-Salgado, Gerhard J. Herndl. Nature Communications. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03798-5

(c) Maria Pinto