The Plastisphere: The Hidden Microbial World on Plastic and Its Implications for Ecosystems, Biodiversity, and Human Health
P lastic pollution is usually understood in terms of litter, wildlife entanglement, ingestion, and the accumulation of persistent particles in natural environments. Yet plastic has another ecological dimension that is less visible: once it enters the environment, it becomes a surface on which microorganisms can attach, grow, interact, and form complex communities. These communities are collectively known as the plastisphere . The term was introduced in 2013 by Erik R. Zettler, Tracy J. Mincer, and Linda A. Amaral-Zettler in their study of microbial communities associated with plastic debris collected from the North Atlantic Ocean. Their research showed that plastic supported diverse microbial assemblages whose composition differed from that of the surrounding surface seawater, identifying plastic debris as a distinct microbial habitat rather than an inert object in the marine environment. Since then, plastisphere research has expanded to include rivers, lakes, sediments, agricultu...
