Aquatic environments serve as a sink for nearly all anthropogenic discharge. A significant part of the discharge is tire wear, which is increasingly being released into the environment. Main components of tires are plastic and zinc, which can be used as proxies for tire abrasion to study the effect on microbial life. We studied the effects of nanoplastic an zinc on a microeukaryotic community using high-throughput sequencing of the 18S V9 region over a 14-day exposure period. Apart from a generally unchanged diversity upon exposure to zinc and nanoplastics, a change in community structure due to zinc is evident. Apparently, nanoplastic particles do not affect the community, but zinc addition results in functional abundance shifts concerning the trophic mode. In contrast to lasting changes in taxon composition the functional community composition is initially strongly disbalanced after application of zinc, but returns to the original state.

Primary Presenter: Guido Sieber, University of Duisburg-Essen (guido.sieber@uni-due.de)

Authors:

Daniela Beisser, University of Duisburg-Essem  (daniela.beisser@uni-due.de)

Jana Rothenberger, University of Duisburg-Essem  ()

Manan Shah, University of Duisburg-Essem  (manan.shah@uni-due.de)

mark Schumann, University of Duisburg-Essem  (mark.schumann@uni-due.de)

Bernd Sures, University of Duisburg-Essem  (bernd.sures@uni-due.de)

Jens Boenigk, University of Duisburg-Essem  (jens.boenigk@uni-due.de)