BIOACPLAST

The presented experiments confirmed the possibility of inducing different prokaryotic and eukaryotic biofilm communities on microplastics from an initial seawater source by adding nutrients and copper. However, these different communities did not exhibit differences in their ability to bioaccumulate copper. copper adsorbed in these biofilms could be transfert to Artemia salina when they grazed the biofilms developed on MPs, raising significant concerns about the role of plastic pollution in the transfer of contaminants within trophic networks. Moreover, the relationship between the quantity of trace metals accumulated on the plastisphere and the quantity accumulated in A.salina were not proportional. It could be speculated that the complexation of trace metals within the plastisphere 3D-matrix is occurring through various complexing sites, with various kinetics and strength.