ArticleNature communications2022
Plastic pollution fosters more microbial growth in lakes than natural organic matter.
Article in Nature communications, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers.
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
39 citing papers in PubMed, 189 citations in OpenAlex.
- Unraveling the coastal marine plastisphere archaeome.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Predicting the plastic biodegradation potential within microbial lineages and across global ecosystems.Microbial genomics · 2026Article
- Microplastics as Vectors Influencing Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, and Endocrine Function During Early Development.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Plastic leachates drive conjugative transfer of antibiotic resistance genes.Environmental science and ecotechnology · 2026Article
- Medical facemask waste alters detritus decomposition and fungal communities in a freshwater pond.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- A Concept Using α-Niche Evolution Within Bacterial Communities to Direct β-Niche Evolution of Focal Species.Environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Colored Plastic Pollution Reshapes Aquatic Microbial Community and Resistance Profile via Divergent Pseudonatural Dissolved Organic Matter.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Plastisphere-isolatedFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Plastic additives enrich diverse bacterial communities which show the hallmarks of plastic degradation.Sustainable microbiology · 2026Article
- Microplastic biofilm as hotspots of antibiotic resistance genes and potential pathogens.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Review
- Unveiling Chemical-Microbial Cascade Risk Factors from Plastic Pipe Leaching in Drinking Water.Environmental science & technology · 2025Article
- Unique plastisphere viromes with habitat-dependent potential for modulating global methane cycle.Nature communications · 2025Article
- The Effect of Larval Exposure to Plastic Pollution on the Gut Microbiota of the Major Malaria Vector Anopheles arabiensis Patton (Diptera: Culicidae).Environmental microbiology reports · 2025Article
- Scale-up upcycling of waste polyethylene terephthalate plastics to biodegradable polyglycolic acid plastics.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Plastic pollution has the potential to alter ecological and evolutionary processes in aquatic ecosystems.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Review
- Zooming in the plastisphere: the ecological interface for phytoplankton-plastic interactions in aquatic ecosystems.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Metallacage-crosslinked free-standing supramolecular networks via photo-induced copolymerization for photocatalytic water decontamination.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Environmental Health and Safety Implications of the Interplay Between Microplastics and the Residing Biofilm.Environment & health (Washington, D.C.) · 2025Review
- Carbon Cycling in Wetlands Under the Shadow of Microplastics: Challenges and Prospects.Toxics · 2025Review
- Microplastics Generate Less Mineral Protection of Soil Carbon and More COAdvanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Plastic debris widely pollutes freshwaters. Abiotic and biotic degradation of plastics releases carbon-based substrates that are available for heterotrophic growth, but little is known about how these novel organic compounds influence microbial metabolism. Here we found leachate from plastic shopping bags was chemically distinct and more bioavailable than natural organic matter from 29 Scandinavian lakes. Consequently, plastic leachate increased bacterial biomass acquisition by 2.29-times when added at an environmentally-relevant concentration to lake surface waters. These results were not solely attributable to the amount of dissolved organic carbon provided by the leachate. Bacterial growth was 1.72-times more efficient with plastic leachate because the added carbon was more accessible than natural organic matter. These effects varied with both the availability of alternate, especially labile, carbon sources and bacterial diversity. Together, our results suggest that plastic pollution may stimulate aquatic food webs and highlight where pollution mitigation strategies could be most effective.
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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.