SynthesisThe ISME journal2021
Food or just a free ride? A meta-analysis reveals the global diversity of the Plastisphere.
Synthesis in The ISME journal, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 257 citations in OpenAlex.
- Potential routes of plastics biotransformation involving novel plastizymes revealed by global multi-omic analysis of plastic associated microbes.Scientific reports · 2024Pooled it
- The Biotechnological Applications of Marine Bacteria.Biology · 2026Review
- The aquatic plastisphere: ecology, pathogen dissemination and antimicrobial resistance.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- Role of dienelactone hydrolases in PET biodegradation by flavobacteriaApplied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Microbial diversity and potential pathogens associated with the plastisphere on beaches of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Brazilian journal of microbiology : [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology] · 2026Article
- Bacterial family-VIII esterase displays dual activities: hydrolysis of polyester bioplastics and β-lactam antibiotics.The ISME journal · 2026Article
- Biodegradable polylactic acid microplastics rewire the soil food web by impeding amoebae predation.The ISME journal · 2026Article
- Bioplastic biodegradability shapes microbial communities in a coastal brackish environment.The ISME journal · 2026Article
- Biochar reshapes soil bacterial community composition and survival strategies: a meta-analysis revealing trade-offs between microbial stability and functional complexity.Biology and fertility of soils · 2026Article
- Comparative functional profiles of microbial communities on drifting microplastics and volcanic pumice.ISME communications · 2026Article
- Polymers and immersion time shape bacterial pathogen and antibiotic resistance profiles in aquaculture facilities.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2025Article
- Oceanic regions shape the composition of the Antarctic plastisphere.Communications earth & environment · 2025Article
- Machine learning reveals microbial interactions driving plastic degradation across plastisphere environments.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Selective colonization of microplastics, wood and glass by antimicrobial-resistant and pathogenic bacteria.Microbiology (Reading, England) · 2024Article
- Rapid effects of plastic pollution on coastal sediment metabolism in nature.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Exploring plastic biofilm formation and Escherichia coli colonisation in marine environments.Environmental microbiology reports · 2024Article
- Microbial communities colonising plastics during transition from the wastewater treatment plant to marine waters.Environmental microbiome · 2024Article
- Article
- Distinct microbial communities degrade cellulose diacetate bioplastics in the coastal ocean.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2023Article
- Primer selection impacts the evaluation of microecological patterns in environmental microbiomes.iMeta · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
It is now indisputable that plastics are ubiquitous and problematic in ecosystems globally. Many suggestions have been made about the role that biofilms colonizing plastics in the environment-termed the "Plastisphere"-may play in the transportation and ecological impact of these plastics. By collecting and re-analyzing all raw 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metadata from 2,229 samples within 35 studies, we have performed the first meta-analysis of the Plastisphere in marine, freshwater, other aquatic (e.g., brackish or aquaculture) and terrestrial environments. We show that random forest models can be trained to differentiate between groupings of environmental factors as well as aspects of study design, but-crucially-also between plastics when compared with control biofilms and between different plastic types and community successional stages. Our meta-analysis confirms that potentially biodegrading Plastisphere members, the hydrocarbonoclastic Oceanospirillales and Alteromonadales are consistently more abundant in plastic than control biofilm samples across multiple studies and environments. This indicates the predilection of these organisms for plastics and confirms the urgent need for their ability to biodegrade plastics to be comprehensively tested. We also identified key knowledge gaps that should be addressed by future studies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.