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

@article{Zettler2013LifeIT,
  title={Life in the "plastisphere": microbial communities on plastic marine debris.},
  author={Erik R. Zettler and Tracy J. Mincer and Linda A. Amaral-Zettler},
  journal={Environmental science \& technology},
  year={2013},
  volume={47 13},
  pages={
          7137-46
        }
}
Plastics are the most abundant form of marine debris, with global production rising and documented impacts in some marine environments, but the influence of plastic on open ocean ecosystems is poorly understood, particularly for microbial communities. Plastic marine debris (PMD) collected at multiple locations in the North Atlantic was analyzed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and next-generation sequencing to characterize the attached microbial communities. We unveiled a diverse… 
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