Ups and Downs in the Ocean: Effects of Biofouling on Vertical Transport of Microplastics
Open accessAbstract
Recent studies suggest size-selective removal of small plastic particles from the ocean surface, an observation that remains unexplained. We studied one of the hypotheses regarding this size-selective removal: the formation of a biofilm on the microplastics (biofouling). We developed the first theoretical model that is capable of simulating the effect of biofouling on the fate of microplastic. The model is based on settling, biofilm growth, and ocean depth profiles for light, water density, temperature, salinity, and viscosity. Using realistic parameters, the model simulates the vertical transport of small microplastic particles over time, and predicts that the particles either float, sink to the ocean floor, or oscillate vertically, depending on the size and density of the particle. The predicted size-dependent vertical movement of microplastic particles results in a maximum concentration at intermediate depths. Consequently, relatively low abundances of small particles are predicted at the ocean surface, while at the same time these small particles may never reach the ocean floor. Our results hint at the fate of “lost” plastic in the ocean, and provide a start for predicting risks of exposure to microplastics for potentially vulnerable species living at these depths.
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Kooi et al. used modeling to demonstrate that plastics might oscillate within the upper 100 m of the water column due to (de)fouling and presented a theoretical model for size-selective removal of small particles from the ocean surface.
“Kooi et al. 86 used modeling to demonstrate that plastics might oscillate within the upper 100 m of the water column due to (de)fouling and presented a theoretical model for size-selective removal of small particles from the ocean surface.”
From Weathering plastics as a planetary boundary threat: exposure, fate, and hazards (2021) · cites this paper as [86]
There is a lack of evidence for significant plastic debris in sediment traps from the North Atlantic gyre.
“the lack of evidence for significant plastic debris in sediment traps from the North Atlantic gyre [54]”
From Distribution of plastic polymer types in the marine environment; A meta-analysis (2019) · cites this paper as [54]
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“Regarding exposure assessment, complex transport mechanisms (both horizontal and vertical) of microplastics (Van Sebille et al., 2015; Eriksen et al., 2014; Kukulka et al., 2012; Fossi et al., 2017; Kooi et al., 2017), have not been integrated in our modelling approach.”
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BackgroundBioavailability and toxicity of microplastics to fish species: A review.
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“(60) but adjusted for more realistic scenarios.”
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“Modeling results predicted that the size-dependent vertical movement of microplastic particles results in amaximumconcentration at intermediate depths in the ocean due to biofouling (Kooi et al., 2017).”
Aging of microplastics promotes their ingestion by marine zooplankton.
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“Particles that acquire a biofilm become denser and may therefore sink at an increased rate (Kooi et al., 2017).”
BackgroundResultSelf-citationHigh concentrations of plastic hidden beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean
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All is not lost: deriving a top-down mass budget of plastic at sea
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“Furthermore, it is known that chemical degradation of polymers results in weakening and fragmentation, and that biological colonization and aggregation can induce sinking of buoyant polymers (Kooi et al 2017).”
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“As the infinitesimal fragments of plastic, MPs are expected to increase exponentially with shrinking size and time due to its longevity (Cózar et al., 2014; Kooi et al., 2017).”
BackgroundThe fate of plastic in the ocean environment – a minireview
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The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health
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“, 2015), or the formation of biofilms (Kooi et al., 2017; Rummel et al., 2017) etc.”
BackgroundUrbanization: an increasing source of multiple pollutants to rivers in the 21st century
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Self-citationThe distribution of subsurface microplastics in the ocean
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“Models also suggest a uniform dispersion of small micro-plastics (1–100 µm) in the water column, behaving differently from large microparticles 35,55,56 , with sinking speeds ranging from 10 −3 m s −1 to 10 −6 m s −1 , regardless of buoyant 57 or dense 58,59 plastics.”
A One Health perspective of the impacts of microplastics on animal, human and environmental health.
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“For example, the hypothesized sinking and rising of plastic particles due to biofouling and possible subsequent remineralization at depth (Kooi et al., 2017) will be extremely difficult to observe, but its large-scale effect on the horizontal distribution of marine plastic can be modeled.”
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A Scientific Perspective on Microplastics in Nature and Society
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“We know more about the fates and processes of some particle shapes, e.g. spheres (Kooi et al., 2017a), but much less about the environmental fate of some others, such as films or fibres.”
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Exponential increase of plastic burial in mangrove sediments as a major plastic sink
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“These findings have led some to hypothesize the existence of a range of size-dependent removal processes, such as ingestion by fauna (14–16), sinking to deeper layers of the water column (3, 17, 18), and sequestration in sediments (19).”
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“Only a few have provided theoretical background and conceptualized the transport mechanisms for investigating the fate of microplastics in aquatic settings [15,41,70,72,74,121,126,163,177,178] (Table 1).”
BackgroundSinking of floating plastic debris caused by biofilm development in a freshwater lake
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“Theoretical model was also developed to simulate the effect of biofouling on the fate of microplastics, which predicted size-dependent vertical movement of microplastics and a maximum concentration at intermediate depths in the ocean (Kooi et al., 2017), but field observation supporting this prediction is still lackin…”
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Global mass of buoyant marine plastics dominated by large long-lived debris
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“Interestingly, the microbial colonisation of plastics can also impact particle buoyancy and transport [108, 109].”
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Assessment of microplastics derived from mariculture in Xiangshan Bay, China
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Biofilm facilitates metal accumulation onto microplastics in estuarine waters
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“While we model transport as being purely two dimensional, biofouling of microplastic particles results in decreased buoyancy, which leads to sinking (Fazey & Ryan, 2016; Kooi et al., 2017).”
BackgroundBond, T., Ferrándiz-Mas, V., Felipe-Sotelo, M., & van Sebille, E. (2018) · Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology · doi:10.1080/10643389.2018.1483155 · Cited by 272 · see citing works
“The equivalent times for 0.1mm and 1 lm particles are 10 days and 278 years (Kooi et al., 2017).”
BackgroundPlastic ingestion by marine fish in the wild
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“Sedimentation of small MPs may be enhanced by biofouling (Fazey and Ryan, 2016; Kooi et al., 2017) or ingestion/fecal pellet deposition by marine organisms (Andrady, 2011; Vianello et al., 2013).”
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BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationLinking effects of microplastics to ecological impacts in marine environments
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Detection of low numbers of microplastics in North Sea fish using strict quality assurance criteria.
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“These findings support the hypothesis of substantial losses of plastic from the ocean surface, and indicate the existence of four possible sinks: shore deposition, nanofragmentation, biofouling causing submersion (Kooi et al., 2017), and ingestion (Cozar et al., 2014).”
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“Its fragmentation and degradation mostly are driven by UV-B radiation, physical stress and microbial action (Galgani et al., 2015; Kooi et al., 2017; SAPEA, 2019), which may enhance sinking of the buoyant polymers (Koelmans et al.”
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Highest risk abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear
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PHA-Based Bioplastic: a Potential Alternative to Address Microplastic Pollution
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“This leads to either the sinking or vertical oscillation of MPs (Kooi et al., 2017).”
BackgroundA review on marine plastisphere: biodiversity, formation, and role in degradation
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“They can also affect the vertical transport of MPs in the ocean and provide a new ecological niche for other microorganisms [39,88,89].”
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High-throughput NIR spectroscopic (NIRS) detection of microplastics in soil
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“If the formation of nano-and microplastic agglomerates proceeds in a similar way to marine snow, this would likely influence the buoyant density of the plastics within the water column, altering their sinking rate (Kooi et al., 2017; Lobelle and Cunliffe, 2011).”
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First evidence of plastic fallout from the North Pacific Garbage Patch
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“This is both because the processes that govern the sinking of plastic from the surface to the deep sea are very poorly understood (Katija et al 2017, Kooi et al 2017, Choy et al 2019, Tekman et al 2020), and also because the OGCMs typically have far less skill in the deep ocean than near the ocean…”
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Plastic as a Vector of Dispersion for Marine Species With Invasive Potential. A Review
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From source to sink: Review and prospects of microplastics in wetland ecosystems
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de Carvalho, A. R., Garcia, F., Riem-Galliano, L., Tudesque, L., Albignac, M., ter Halle, A., & Cucherousset, J. (2021) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144479 · Cited by 167 · see citing works
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Microplastics in sediments from an interconnected river-estuary region.
Xu, Q., Xing, R., Sun, M.-D., Gao, Y., & An, L.-H. (2020) · Science of the Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139025 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
The Way of Macroplastic through the Environment
Lechthaler, S., Waldschläger, K., Stauch, G., & Schüttrumpf, H. (2020) · Environments · doi:10.3390/environments7100073 · Cited by 191 · see citing works
“Biofouling might not cause MaP to settle all the way down to the ocean floor, but it leads to an oscillating pattern as the biofilm is dependent on sunlight [103,104].”
BackgroundRecent advances on the transport of microplastics/nanoplastics in abiotic and biotic compartments
Huang, D., Chen, H., Shen, M., Tao, J., Chen, S., Yin, L., Zhou, W., Wang, X., Xiao, R., & Li, R. (2022) · Journal of Hazardous Materials · doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129515 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kooi, M., Nes, E. H. V., Scheffer, M., & Koelmans, A. A.
- Affiliations
- Wageningen University & Research (NL)
- Wageningen Marine Research (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Kooi, Merel
- Venue
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2017-06-14
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 14
- Pages
- 7963-7971
- ISSN
- 0013-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5851
- PMC
- PMC6150669
- OpenAlex
- W2626018688
- Cited by
- 977
- References
- 69
- Citations by year
- 2026: 131 · 2025: 123 · 2024: 129 · 2023: 121 · 2022: 148 · 2021: 133 · 2020: 101 · 2019: 52 · 2018: 33 · 2017: 6
- FWCI
- 23.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Environmental Science & Technology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) (acceptedVersion)
- Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine and coastal ecosystems
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Keywords
- microplastics, biofouling, biofilm formation, vertical transport, sea surface, particle settling, particle buoyancy, microplastic fate, theoretical model, marine plastic pollution
- MeSH terms
- Environmental Monitoring, Oceans and Seas, Plastics, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Biofouling
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