To fully understand how plastic is affecting the ocean, we need to understand how marine life interacts directly with it. Besides their ecological relevance, microbes can affect the distribution, degradation and transfer of plastics to the rest of the marine food web. From amplicon sequencing and scanning electron microscopy, we know that a diverse array of microorganisms rapidly associate with plastic marine debris in the form of biofouling and biofilms, also known as the "Plastisphere." However, observation of multiple microbial interactions in situ, at small spatial scales in the Plastisphere, has been a challenge. In this issue of Molecular Ecology Resources, Schlundt et al. apply the combination labelling and spectral imaging - fluorescence in situ hybridization to study microbial communities on plastic marine debris. The images demonstrate the colocalization of abundant bacterial groups on plastic marine debris at a relatively high taxonomic and spatial resolution while also visualizing biofouling of eukaryotes, such as diatoms and bryozoans. This modern imaging technology provides new possibilities to address questions regarding the ecology of marine microbes on plastic marine debris and describe more specific impacts of plastic pollution in the marine food webs.

中文翻译：

---

谁在Plastisphere中的位置，为什么那么重要？

为了充分了解塑料如何影响海洋，我们需要了解海洋生物如何直接与其相互作用。除其生态意义外，微生物还会影响塑料向海洋食物网其余部分的分布，降解和转移。通过扩增子测序和扫描电子显微镜，我们知道各种各样的微生物以生物污染和生物膜的形式迅速与塑料海洋垃圾相关联，也称为“塑料圈”。然而，在原生质层的小空间尺度上就地观察多种微生物相互作用一直是一个挑战。在本期《分子生态资源》中，Schlundt等人。应用组合标记和光谱成像-荧光原位杂交技术研究塑料海洋垃圾上的微生物群落。这些图像以相对较高的分类学和空间分辨率证明了塑料海洋垃圾上丰富细菌群的共定位，同时还可视化了真核生物（如硅藻和苔藓动物）的生物污染。这项现代的成像技术为解决有关海洋微生物在海洋塑料垃圾上的生态问题提供了新的可能性，并描述了海洋食物网中塑料污染的更具体影响。