Polyester microfiber impacts on coastal sediment organic matter consumption.

As plastic pollution continues to accumulate at the seafloor, concerns around benthic ecosystem functionality heightens. This research demonstrates the systematic effects of polyester microfibers on seafloor organic matter consumption rates, an important benthic ecosystem function connected to multiple reactions and processes. We used a field-based assay to measure the loss of organic matter, both with and without polyester microfiber contamination. We identified sediment organic matter content, mud content, and mean grain size as the main drivers of organic matter consumption, however, polyester microfiber contamination decoupled ecosystem relationships and altered observed organic matter cycling dynamics. Organic matter consumption rates varied across horizontal and vertical spaces, highlighting that consumption and associated plastic effects are dependent on environmental heterogeneity at both small (within sites) and larger (between sites) scales. Our results emphasize the important role habitat heterogeneity plays in seafloor organic matter consumption and the associated effects of plastic pollution on ecosystem function.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Samantha Ladewig reports financial support was provided by The International Yachting Fellowship of Rotarians. Samantha Ladewig reports financial support was provided by Anonymous philanthropic donors, provide through the Microphytes and Microplastics project. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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