Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
Institute of Marine Sciences - Okeanos, University of the Azores, Horta, Portugal.
Nat Ecol Evol. 2023 May;7(5):698-706. doi: 10.1038/s41559-023-02013-z. Epub 2023 Mar 27.
Microplastics contaminate environments worldwide and are ingested by numerous species, whose health is affected in multiple ways. A key dimension of health that may be affected is the gut microbiome, but these effects are relatively unexplored. Here, we investigated if microplastics are associated with changes in proventricular and cloacal microbiomes in two seabird species that chronically ingest microplastics: northern fulmars and Cory's shearwaters. The amount of microplastics in the gut was significantly correlated with gut microbial diversity and composition: microplastics were associated with decreases in commensal microbiota and increases in (zoonotic) pathogens and antibiotic-resistant and plastic-degrading microbes. These results illustrate that environmentally relevant microplastic concentrations and mixtures are associated with changes in gut microbiomes in wild seabirds.
微塑料污染遍布全球环境，被众多物种摄入体内，其健康受到多方面的影响。可能受到影响的一个关键健康维度是肠道微生物组，但这些影响还相对未知。在这里，我们研究了微塑料是否与两种长期摄入微塑料的海鸟（北方海鹦和冠海雀）的前胃和泄殖腔微生物组的变化有关。肠道内微塑料的含量与肠道微生物多样性和组成呈显著正相关：微塑料与共生菌减少和（人畜共患病）病原体、抗生素耐药菌和可降解塑料菌增加有关。这些结果表明，环境相关浓度的微塑料混合物与野生海鸟肠道微生物组的变化有关。
