Reproduced from the article: Fig 5. PET and glass biomarkers identified by linear discriminant analysis
This article just appeared in PLOS One: Microbes on a Bottle: Substrate, Season and Geography Influence Community Composition of Microbes Colonizing Marine Plastic Debris
A quick read showed a similar approach to our idea, but using PET bottles (which is not floating plastic). They immersed bottles in three locations off England, in three different seasons, and also included glass slides to compare the populations attaching to either material. They found clear seasonal and spatial variations, as well as differences between seawater and plastic. On the other hand, they found no total significant difference between glass and plastic, and hypothesize that attachment is more about support to a solid surface than actual specific attraction. That said, they did note differences between plastic and glass in certain taxa. In any case, this is cool. Other people are doing (and publishing!) similar projects, but not exactly the same things. There is lot of food for thought, and comparisons to make, but at this early stage of the project is great to see that we are on the right path.
Thank you for all the backers from today! We are getting closer 🙂
