Microbes and microplastics: Community shifts along an urban coastal contaminant gradient.

Plastic substrates introduced to the environment during the Anthropocene have introduced new pathways for microbial selection and dispersal. Some plastic-colonising microorganisms have adapted phenotypes for plastic degradation (selection), while the spatial transport (dispersal) potential of plastic colonisers remains controlled by polymer-specific density, hydrography and currents. Plastic-degrading enzyme abundances have recently been correlated with concentrations of plastic debris in open ocean environments, making it critical to better understand colonisation of hydrocarbon degraders with plastic degradation potential in urbanised watersheds where plastic pollution often originates.