Life in the "plastisphere": microbial communities on plastic marine debris.

By E. Zettler, T. Mincer, L. Amaral-Zettler. Environmental Science and Technology, 2013

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Impact of Microplastics and Nanoplastics on Human Health (2021, background): “There is also evidence to suggest that microbial degradation will occur in oceans due to the presence of hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms that have been shown to flourish on plastic waste, forming a “plastisphere” ecosystem [26].”
Microplastic in Surface Waters of Urban Rivers: Concentration, Sources, and Associated Bacterial Assemblages (2016, background): “Few studies have examined microplastic microbial assemblages, but our results showing microplastic selects for a unique assemblage of bacteria are consistent with results from other earlier studies (Zettler et al. 2013, Harrison et al. 2014, McCormick et al. 2014).”
Microplastics in freshwater ecosystems: what we know and what we need to know (2014, background): “[72] described a highly diverse microbial community (‘plastisphere’)”
Dangerous hitchhikers? Evidence for potentially pathogenic Vibrio spp. on microplastic particles. (2016, methodology): “Furthermore, Amaral-Zettler et al. (2015) reported that “Plastisphere” communities are genetically unique from the free marine water communities that envelop them and possess dominant taxa that are highly variable and diverse.”
Microbial Surface Colonization and Biofilm Development in Marine Environments (2015, background): “Some of the “plastisphere” components, such as polypropylene, are preferentially colonized by vibrios (541).”