Environment Research Institute, Shandong University, Qingdao, 266237, China.
School of Life Sciences, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, 273165, China.
Chemosphere. 2020 Aug;253:126740. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.126740. Epub 2020 Apr 11.
Microplastics have been of great concern in recent years due to bioaccumulation and their toxic effects on organisms. However, few studies have focused on microplastics in the natural river ecosystem and the relationship between microplastics and microbes. Therefore, to understand the concentration and characteristics of microplastics and explore the impact of microplastics on the microbial community, sediment samples were collected from the Huangjinxia Reservoir, which is the water source of a water diversion project in western China. Results showed that the concentration of microplastics in the study area ranged from 233.33 ± 70.24 items·kg to 870 ± 238.12 items·kg, with an average of 558.10 ± 291.45 items·kg. After clustering the sediments according to the microplastic concentration, there was a significant difference in the Chao1 index of microbial community between groups, indicating that microplastics might have affected microbial diversity of the sediments. Additionally, Anosim, MRPP, and Amova analyses indicated that microplastics might have an impact on the structure and composition of microbial communities. Moreover, function prediction assays suggested that microplastics might have differential impacts on various microbial community functions. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the impact of microplastics on microbes in sediments of a natural river ecosystem, providing a basis for further study of the interaction between microplastics and microbes in similar habitats.
近年来，由于生物蓄积和对生物的毒性作用，微塑料受到了极大的关注。然而，很少有研究关注自然河流生态系统中的微塑料以及微塑料与微生物之间的关系。因此，为了了解微塑料的浓度和特征，并探索微塑料对微生物群落的影响，从中国西部调水工程的水源地——黄金峡水库采集了沉积物样品。结果表明，研究区域微塑料的浓度范围为 233.33 ± 70.24 个·kg−1 至 870 ± 238.12 个·kg−1，平均值为 558.10 ± 291.45 个·kg−1。根据微塑料浓度对沉积物进行聚类后，微生物群落的 Chao1 指数在组间存在显著差异，表明微塑料可能影响了沉积物的微生物多样性。此外，Anosim、MRPP 和 Amova 分析表明，微塑料可能对微生物群落的结构和组成产生影响。此外，功能预测分析表明，微塑料可能对各种微生物群落功能产生差异影响。据我们所知，这是首次研究微塑料对自然河流生态系统沉积物中微生物的影响，为进一步研究类似生境中微塑料与微生物的相互作用提供了依据。
