The environmental impact of nanoplastics (NPs) released into natural aquatic surroundings is an increasing concern. NPs are widely generated from our daily waste disposal and eventually reach the ocean, wherein consequent influences on aquatic environments remain unclear. In this regard, there are few studies investigating NP-related ecological impacts. Comprising one of Earth's major carbon pools, marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) serves an essential role in global carbon dynamics. The spontaneous assembly of DOM into particulate organic matter (POM) plays important roles in the marine carbon cycle, and is involved in hemostasis of various ecological communities. Here, we report that 10 ppb NPs (polystyrene/polymethyl methacrylate, 25 nm) appeared in a water column accelerate the kinetic assembly rate of DOM-POM transition. NPs with various characteristics show similar influences on DOM assembly, and seawater samples collected from disparate sites were used to further confirm this unanticipated phenomenon. In this study, we demonstrated that hydrophobic interactions contribute to the facilitation of NP-DOM aggregations. Our results illustrate that NPs alter DOM-POM assembly, which may potentiate unanticipated perturbation to the largest marine carbon pool. Such effects would warrant increased vigilance on current practices of plastic usage and disposal.

释放到天然水生环境中的纳米塑料（NPs）对环境的影响日益引起人们的关注。NP是我们日常废​​物处理过程中广泛产生的，并最终到达海洋，因此对水生环境的影响尚不清楚。在这方面，很少有研究调查与NP有关的生态影响。海洋溶解有机物（DOM）由地球上的主要碳库之一组成，在全球碳动态中起着至关重要的作用。DOM自发组装成颗粒有机物（POM）在海洋碳循环中起重要作用，并参与各种生态群落的止血。在这里，我们报告在水柱中出现10 ppb NP（聚苯乙烯/聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯，25 nm）加速了DOM-POM过渡的动力学组装速率。具有各种特征的NPs对DOM的组装表现出相似的影响，并且使用从不同地点收集的海水样品进一步证实了这种意外现象。在这项研究中，我们证明了疏水相互作用有助于NP-DOM聚集。我们的结果表明，NP会改变DOM-POM的组装，这可能会加剧对最大海洋碳库的意外扰动。这种影响将使人们更加警惕当前塑料使用和处置的做法。我们的结果表明，NP会改变DOM-POM的组装，这可能会加剧对最大海洋碳库的意外扰动。这种影响将使人们更加警惕当前塑料使用和处置的做法。我们的结果表明，NP会改变DOM-POM的组装，这可能会加剧对最大海洋碳库的意外扰动。这种影响将使人们更加警惕当前塑料使用和处置的做法。