Marine plastics alter the organic matter composition of the air-sea boundary layer, with influences on CO2 exchange: a large-scale analysis method to explore future ocean scenarios

Luisa Galgani; Eleni Tzempelikou; Ioanna Kalantzi; Anastasia Tsiola; Manolis Tsapakis; Paraskevi Pitta; Chiara Esposito; Anastasia Tsotskou; Iordanis Magiopoulos; Roberto Benavides; Tobias Steinhoff; Steven A. Loiselle

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159624

Marine plastics alter the organic matter composition of the air-sea boundary layer, with influences on CO₂ exchange: a large-scale analysis method to explore future ocean scenarios

Luisa Galgani^*, Eleni Tzempelikou, Ioanna Kalantzi, Anastasia Tsiola, Manolis Tsapakis, Paraskevi Pitta, Chiara Esposito, Anastasia Tsotskou, Iordanis Magiopoulos, Roberto Benavides, Tobias Steinhoff, Steven A. Loiselle

^*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

WATEC, Centre for Water Technology

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift/Konferencebidrag i tidsskrift /Bidrag til avis › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › peer review

11 Citationer (Scopus)

Abstract

Microplastics are substrates for microbial activity and can influence biomass production. This has potentially important implications in the sea-surface microlayer, the marine boundary layer that controls gas exchange with the atmosphere and where biologically produced organic compounds can accumulate. In the present study, we used six large scale mesocosms to simulate future ocean scenarios of high plastic concentration. Each mesocosm was filled with 3 m³ of seawater from the oligotrophic Sea of Crete, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. A known amount of standard polystyrene microbeads of 30 μm diameter was added to three replicate mesocosms, while maintaining the remaining three as plastic-free controls. Over the course of a 12-day experiment, we explored microbial organic matter dynamics in the sea-surface microlayer in the presence and absence of microplastic contamination of the underlying water. Our study shows that microplastics increased both biomass production and enrichment of carbohydrate-like and proteinaceous marine gel compounds in the sea-surface microlayer. Importantly, this resulted in a ∼3 % reduction in the concentration of dissolved CO₂ in the underlying water. This reduction was associated to both direct and indirect impacts of microplastic pollution on the uptake of CO₂ within the marine carbon cycle, by modifying the biogenic composition of the sea's boundary layer with the atmosphere.

Originalsprog	Engelsk
Artikelnummer	159624
Tidsskrift	Science of the Total Environment
Vol/bind	857
Nummer	Part 3
ISSN	0048-9697
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159624
Status	Udgivet - jan. 2023

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10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159624

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Citationsformater

Galgani, L., Tzempelikou, E., Kalantzi, I., Tsiola, A., Tsapakis, M., Pitta, P., Esposito, C., Tsotskou, A., Magiopoulos, I., Benavides, R., Steinhoff, T., & Loiselle, S. A. (2023). Marine plastics alter the organic matter composition of the air-sea boundary layer, with influences on CO₂ exchange: a large-scale analysis method to explore future ocean scenarios. Science of the Total Environment, 857(Part 3), Artikel 159624. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159624

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title = "Marine plastics alter the organic matter composition of the air-sea boundary layer, with influences on CO2 exchange: a large-scale analysis method to explore future ocean scenarios",

abstract = "Microplastics are substrates for microbial activity and can influence biomass production. This has potentially important implications in the sea-surface microlayer, the marine boundary layer that controls gas exchange with the atmosphere and where biologically produced organic compounds can accumulate. In the present study, we used six large scale mesocosms to simulate future ocean scenarios of high plastic concentration. Each mesocosm was filled with 3 m3 of seawater from the oligotrophic Sea of Crete, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. A known amount of standard polystyrene microbeads of 30 μm diameter was added to three replicate mesocosms, while maintaining the remaining three as plastic-free controls. Over the course of a 12-day experiment, we explored microbial organic matter dynamics in the sea-surface microlayer in the presence and absence of microplastic contamination of the underlying water. Our study shows that microplastics increased both biomass production and enrichment of carbohydrate-like and proteinaceous marine gel compounds in the sea-surface microlayer. Importantly, this resulted in a ∼3 % reduction in the concentration of dissolved CO2 in the underlying water. This reduction was associated to both direct and indirect impacts of microplastic pollution on the uptake of CO2 within the marine carbon cycle, by modifying the biogenic composition of the sea's boundary layer with the atmosphere.",

keywords = "Dissolved and particulate organic matter, Marine gel particles, Mesocosms, Microplastics, pCO, pH, Sea-surface microlayer",

author = "Luisa Galgani and Eleni Tzempelikou and Ioanna Kalantzi and Anastasia Tsiola and Manolis Tsapakis and Paraskevi Pitta and Chiara Esposito and Anastasia Tsotskou and Iordanis Magiopoulos and Roberto Benavides and Tobias Steinhoff and Loiselle, {Steven A.}",

year = "2023",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159624",

language = "English",

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Galgani, L, Tzempelikou, E, Kalantzi, I, Tsiola, A, Tsapakis, M, Pitta, P, Esposito, C, Tsotskou, A, Magiopoulos, I, Benavides, R, Steinhoff, T & Loiselle, SA 2023, 'Marine plastics alter the organic matter composition of the air-sea boundary layer, with influences on CO₂ exchange: a large-scale analysis method to explore future ocean scenarios', Science of the Total Environment, bind 857, nr. Part 3, 159624. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159624

Marine plastics alter the organic matter composition of the air-sea boundary layer, with influences on CO₂ exchange: a large-scale analysis method to explore future ocean scenarios. / Galgani, Luisa; Tzempelikou, Eleni; Kalantzi, Ioanna et al.
I: Science of the Total Environment, Bind 857, Nr. Part 3, 159624, 01.2023.

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift/Konferencebidrag i tidsskrift /Bidrag til avis › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › peer review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Marine plastics alter the organic matter composition of the air-sea boundary layer, with influences on CO2 exchange

T2 - a large-scale analysis method to explore future ocean scenarios

AU - Galgani, Luisa

AU - Tzempelikou, Eleni

AU - Kalantzi, Ioanna

AU - Tsiola, Anastasia

AU - Tsapakis, Manolis

AU - Pitta, Paraskevi

AU - Esposito, Chiara

AU - Tsotskou, Anastasia

AU - Magiopoulos, Iordanis

AU - Benavides, Roberto

AU - Steinhoff, Tobias

AU - Loiselle, Steven A.

PY - 2023/1

Y1 - 2023/1

N2 - Microplastics are substrates for microbial activity and can influence biomass production. This has potentially important implications in the sea-surface microlayer, the marine boundary layer that controls gas exchange with the atmosphere and where biologically produced organic compounds can accumulate. In the present study, we used six large scale mesocosms to simulate future ocean scenarios of high plastic concentration. Each mesocosm was filled with 3 m3 of seawater from the oligotrophic Sea of Crete, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. A known amount of standard polystyrene microbeads of 30 μm diameter was added to three replicate mesocosms, while maintaining the remaining three as plastic-free controls. Over the course of a 12-day experiment, we explored microbial organic matter dynamics in the sea-surface microlayer in the presence and absence of microplastic contamination of the underlying water. Our study shows that microplastics increased both biomass production and enrichment of carbohydrate-like and proteinaceous marine gel compounds in the sea-surface microlayer. Importantly, this resulted in a ∼3 % reduction in the concentration of dissolved CO2 in the underlying water. This reduction was associated to both direct and indirect impacts of microplastic pollution on the uptake of CO2 within the marine carbon cycle, by modifying the biogenic composition of the sea's boundary layer with the atmosphere.

AB - Microplastics are substrates for microbial activity and can influence biomass production. This has potentially important implications in the sea-surface microlayer, the marine boundary layer that controls gas exchange with the atmosphere and where biologically produced organic compounds can accumulate. In the present study, we used six large scale mesocosms to simulate future ocean scenarios of high plastic concentration. Each mesocosm was filled with 3 m3 of seawater from the oligotrophic Sea of Crete, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. A known amount of standard polystyrene microbeads of 30 μm diameter was added to three replicate mesocosms, while maintaining the remaining three as plastic-free controls. Over the course of a 12-day experiment, we explored microbial organic matter dynamics in the sea-surface microlayer in the presence and absence of microplastic contamination of the underlying water. Our study shows that microplastics increased both biomass production and enrichment of carbohydrate-like and proteinaceous marine gel compounds in the sea-surface microlayer. Importantly, this resulted in a ∼3 % reduction in the concentration of dissolved CO2 in the underlying water. This reduction was associated to both direct and indirect impacts of microplastic pollution on the uptake of CO2 within the marine carbon cycle, by modifying the biogenic composition of the sea's boundary layer with the atmosphere.

KW - Dissolved and particulate organic matter

KW - Marine gel particles

KW - Mesocosms

KW - Microplastics

KW - pCO

KW - pH

KW - Sea-surface microlayer

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U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159624

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159624

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36280077

AN - SCOPUS:85140455525

SN - 0048-9697

VL - 857

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

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M1 - 159624