'Microbes and Microplastics: Assessing the influence of ingesting microbially colonised plastics on the physiology of fish'

现有的海洋和淡水环境微塑料研究往往是在实验室进行接触研究，其颗粒和条件不能反映自然环境的状况。此外，许多接触研究在实验开始之前未能充分描述微塑料颗粒的特性和行为。实验室使用的微塑料与现场使用的微塑料之间的一个主要区别是环境微塑料上存在微生物生物膜。这种生物膜，通常被称为“塑性球”，具有改变微塑料特性的潜力，如疏水性、表面结构和表面电荷，也可能影响颗粒的浮力和聚集行为。生物膜在微塑料上形成的营养有机层也可能影响微塑料摄入的可能性，因为它掩盖了颗粒的不可食用性质，并释放刺激或抑制摄食行为的化学线索。了解塑料圈的性质、其对微塑料的潜在影响及其影响较大生物对颗粒吸收的能力，是更现实地了解微塑料对环境和水生生物的风险的必要步骤。

Existing microplastic studies, for both marine and freshwater environments, often perform laboratory exposure studies with particles and conditions which do not reflect the state of the natural environment. Furthermore, many exposure studies fail to fully characterise the properties and behaviour of microplastic particles before the onset of experiments. A major difference between the microplastics used in laboratories and those present in the field is the presence of a microbial biofilm on environmental microplastics. This biofilm, often termed 'The Plastisphere', has the potential to modify microplastic properties, such as hydrophobicity, surface texture and surface charge and may also influence the buoyancy and aggregation behaviour of particles. The nutritional organic layer formed over microplastics by the biofilm may also influence the likelihood of microplastic ingestion by concealing the inedible nature of the particle and emitting chemical cues which stimulate or inhibit feeding behaviour. Understanding the nature of the plastisphere, its potential effect on microplastics and their ability to influence particle uptake by larger organisms, is a necessary step in gaining a more realistic understanding of the risks of microplastics to the environment and aquatic organisms.