Publication Abstracts

Trolley et al. 2024, submitted

Trolley, G., H. Dierssen, T. Griffin, A. Ibrahim, M. Ottaviani, K. Knobelspiesse, J. Chowdhary, and O. Landi, 2024: Investigating natural biofilms on floating marine plastics and the implications for ocean color remote sensing. Remote Sens. Environ., submitted.

Plastic debris in the marine environment has become increasingly abundant in recent decades and may impact remote sensing retrievals from ocean color satellites. One little explored characteristic of floating marine microplastics is the modification of their spectral reflectance by natural marine biofilms. Here, surface-floating microplastic pieces with natural biofilm were collected across 4700 km of the North Pacific gyre convergence zone, also referred to as the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch". Spectral reflectance of biofilmed microplastics was measured in air from 350 to 2500 nm shortly after collection and the biofilm was separated and stored for DNA sequencing and other analyses. The dominant taxa of the biofilm microbiome included prokaryotic Proteobacteria and Bacteroidia, and eukaryotic red algae and fungi. The red algal genus Tsunamia alone accounted for 52.9% of the eukaryotic microbiome. Biofilm was found on all collected samples, and modified the shape of microplastic reflectance primarily in visible wavelengths in response to photosynthetic pigment absorption. Consistent with photosynthetic pigments, biofilms decreased broad-band plastic reflectance in blue wavelengths and narrow-band reflectance in red wavelengths, with a reflectance dip centered at 673 nm consistent with a predominance of red algae. Biofilm had less impact on spectral reflectance in near infrared and short-wave infrared wavelengths (700-2500 nm) compared to visible wavelengths. The absorption features found at 1215 and 1732 nm, distinct to plastics, had no significant difference in band-depth between biofilmed and cleaned samples. If concentrated enough, surface-floating microplastics will influence satellite chlorophyll-a retrievals which are based on visible absorption features and intended for quantification of water column phytoplankton. Linear mixing simulations revealed that typical microplastic concentrations in the North Pacific gyre (105-106 pieces km-2) are two orders of magnitude lower than concentrations required to significantly influence ocean color chlorophyll-a retrievals (∼108 pieces km-2).

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BibTeX Citation

@unpublished{tr07300l,
  author={Trolley, G. and Dierssen, H. and Griffin, T. and Ibrahim, A. and Ottaviani, M. and Knobelspiesse, K. and Chowdhary, J. and Landi, O.},
  title={Investigating natural biofilms on floating marine plastics and the implications for ocean color remote sensing},
  year={2024},
  journal={Remote Sensing of Environment},
  note={Manuscript submitted for publication}
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - UNPB
ID  - tr07300l
AU  - Trolley, G.
AU  - Dierssen, H.
AU  - Griffin, T.
AU  - Ibrahim, A.
AU  - Ottaviani, M.
AU  - Knobelspiesse, K.
AU  - Chowdhary, J.
AU  - Landi, O.
PY  - 2024
TI  - Investigating natural biofilms on floating marine plastics and the implications for ocean color remote sensing
JA  - Remote Sens. Environ.
JO  - Remote Sensing of Environment
ER  -

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