Does the Plastisphere have a core?

Previous studies show that biofilm microbial communities are different to open seawater but do biofilm communities on different types of plastic differ from each other?  This study placed 9 types of plastic in dark, flowing seawater for 15 months then studied the results with SEM and 16S/18S sequencing. 

Prokaryote plastic communities were overall distinct from that in a glass control but were very similar to each other. However, the make-up of plastic communities were different enough to be significant, in most cases differing by just a handful of OTUs. The eukaryote plastic communities differed to a greater extent but this may reflect inherent heterogeneity rather than the physicochemical properties of each plastic, so the jury’s still out on eukaryotes. As the prokaryote sequence library only covered 86% of taxa it’s still possible that rare taxa exist which are specific to particular synthetic polymers, potentially including pathogens or potential plastic-destroyers.

So yes, this study supports the view that there is a core prokaryote plastic community, at least in mature, sheltered, dark conditions.  It would be interesting to know more about communities and succession in more energetic, irradiated ocean surface conditions where the life of most ocean plastic begins.

Kirstein, I. V., Wichels, A., Krohne, G., & Gerdts, G. (2018). Mature biofilm communities on synthetic polymers in seawater - Specific or general? Marine Environmental Research, 142, 147-154. doi:10.1016/j.marenvres.2018.09.028