College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
School of Resources, Environment and Materials, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
J Hazard Mater. 2024 Dec 5;480:135974. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.135974. Epub 2024 Sep 26.
Exploring plastic bacterial community succession is a crucial step in analyzing and predicting the ecological assembly processes of the plastisphere and its associated environmental impacts. However, microbial biofilm development and niche differentiation during plastic bacterial community succession have rarely scarcely considered. Here, we assessed the differences between three microplastics (MPs) and two natural polymers in terms of biofilm development and niche properties during bacterial community succession, and identified a genus of MPs-degrading bacteria with strong competitive potential in the plastisphere. MPs biofilm development exhibits secondary succession characteristics, whereas natural polymer biofilms persist during the primary succession stage. During succession in plastic bacterial communities, the relationship between nutrient resources and microbial competition was reflected in a positive correlation between species competition and niche breadth, which contradicted the common belief that increased nutrient availability leads to reduced competition. Furthermore, the co-occurrence network revealed that specialists were species with greater competitive potential within the plastisphere. Additionally, the MPs-degrading Exiguobacterium genus represented a key taxon in the plastisphere. Our study provides a reliable pathway for revealing the specificity of plastic bacterial community succession from multiple perspectives and enhances the understanding of ecological assembly processes in the plastisphere.
探索塑料细菌群落演替是分析和预测塑料圈及其相关环境影响的生态组装过程的关键步骤。然而,在塑料细菌群落演替过程中,微生物生物膜的发展和生态位分化很少被考虑。在这里,我们评估了三种微塑料(MPs)和两种天然聚合物在细菌群落演替过程中生物膜发展和生态位特性方面的差异,并确定了一种具有在塑料圈内具有强竞争潜力的 MPs 降解细菌属。 MPs 生物膜发展呈现出次生演替特征,而天然聚合物生物膜在初级演替阶段持续存在。在塑料细菌群落的演替过程中,营养资源和微生物竞争之间的关系反映在物种竞争和生态位宽度之间的正相关关系中,这与普遍认为的营养物质供应增加会导致竞争减少的观点相矛盾。此外,共现网络表明,专性种是塑料圈内具有更大竞争潜力的物种。此外,MPs 降解属 Exiguobacterium 代表了塑料圈内的一个关键分类群。我们的研究提供了一种可靠的途径,从多个角度揭示了塑料细菌群落演替的特异性,增强了对塑料圈内生态组装过程的理解。