Interactions between microplastics and benthic biofilms in fluvial ecosystems: Knowledge gaps and future trends

Ingestion of microplastics and textile cellulose particles by some meiofaunal taxa of an urban stream

“…First, MPs may affect organism survival, energy budget, swimming speed, respiration, food clearance, growth, development, reproduction, body size and shape, and gene expression (e.g., Mueller et al, 2020;Xu et al, 2020;Gallitelli et al, 2021). It follows that biodiversity and essential ecosystem services, like organic carbon recycling, energy transfer efficiency across trophic levels, and burrowing (e.g., Guasch et al, 2022;Silva et al, 2022), may be impaired. Second, MPs ingested by freshwater meiofauna make the inherent and absorbed toxic chemicals pass into the food chain, also providing the pathway for secondary and/or enhanced chemical toxicity (Naqash et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2020).…”

“…For instance, low-density polymers (e.g., polypropylene and polyethylene), which float in the water column, are mainly ingested by filter-feeders (Scherer et al, 2017). High-density particles (e.g., polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride), which sink and accumulate on/in sediments, sometimes as plastispheres (Guasch et al, 2022), are available mainly to deposit-feeders (Scherer et al, 2017). The planktonic cladoceran Daphnia magna (filter-feeder) may consume up to 6200 particle/h exhibiting a higher feeding rate than benthic deposit-feeder taxa such as the dipteran Chironomus riparius and the oligochaete Lumbriculus variegatus (Scherer et al, 2017).…”

Accumulation of polyethylene microplastics in river biofilms and effect on the uptake, biotransformation and toxicity of the antimicrobial triclosan

“…Accordingly, benthic communities are probably more likely to interact with high-density plastics (less buoyant) (Wright et al, 2013;He et al, 2021), as seen in this study. The formation of biofilms on suspended MPs (out of the scope of this study) may also contribute to the retention-resuspension dynamics of MPs along streams (Guasch et al, 2022). In addition, water quality parameters (e.g., ionic strength) can affect the properties of MPs and biofilm cells, influencing their binding affinity (Miao et al, 2019b).…”

Harnessing photosynthetic microorganisms for enhanced bioremediation of microplastics: A comprehensive review

“…These metabolic processes result in an overall beneficial impact on some ecosystem's functions [ 12 , 15 , 17 , 68 , 69 ]. Such a metabolic option is an environmentally friendly and sustainable solution [ 9 , 13 , 58 , 68 , [70] , [71] , [72] ]. Regarding bioreactors for the bioremediation of water bodies using microorganisms and to reach some estimation for big-scale applications, the airlift bioreactor is often utilised due to its advantages over bubble column and stirred bioreactors (e.g., reduction in cell damage and greater mass transfer capacity) [ [73] , [74] , [75] , [76] ].…”

“…The main wildtype and engineered microorganism able to degrade plastic debris, reported in literature, are shown in Table 1 . Further, applying photosynthetic bacteria and unicellular eukaryotic algae, especially with engineered strains, may represent a possible option for plastic degradation in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems [ 72 , [90] , [91] , [92] ]. Independently from the growth in open ponds or enclosed bioreactors, their main requirements are the availability of light, water, CO 2 , and elementary nutrients.…”