Sources of microplastics to two Southeast Michigan rivers and biofilm responses plastic substrata

Sources of microplastics to two Southeast Michigan rivers and biofilm responses plastic substrata | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Sources of microplastics to two Southeast Michigan rivers and biofilm responses plastic substrata Jennifer L. Troost, Sadie M. Baker, Morgan H. Chaudry, Kristin E. Judd This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4108242/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 02 Aug, 2024 Read the published version in Aquatic Sciences → Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Plastic pollution is an emergent global issue in freshwater and marine ecosystems. Microplastics can be introduced into waterways from a variety of sources, although the relative importance of a source for a given watershed is not well understood. To determine whether medium-sized wastewater treatment plants are significant sources of microplastics to rivers that feed into Lake Erie, we measured microplastic load up and downstream of two southeast Michigan wastewater treatment plants. We also performed experiments to test the effects of plastic on stream biofilm function. We detected a significant increase in the microplastic load downstream from the Ypsilanti wastewater treatment plant, which empties into the Lower Rouge River but not the Ann Arbor wastewater treatment plant, which empties into the Huron River. However, the background microplastic load was 10x higher in the Huron River compared to the Lower Rouge River, likely obscuring our ability to detect microplastic wastewater inputs. We found a positive relationship between river discharge and microplastic load at the Huron River site, which drains a larger watershed area than the Lower Rouge site, suggesting that watershed sources may be more important than wastewater treatment plant inputs over larger spatial scales. In biofilm experiments, biofilms grown on high-density polyethylene and polypropylene had significantly lower metabolic diversity and metabolic response, respectively. Overall, our findings indicate that attention should be directed to both point and nonpoint sources to reduce microplastic pollution and that plastics may negatively affect the function of stream biofilm communities. Stream biofilms plastic pollution microplastics wastewater treatment plants Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 02 Aug, 2024 Read the published version in Aquatic Sciences → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 18 Jun, 2024 Reviews received at journal 22 Apr, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 02 Apr, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Mar, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 25 Mar, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 21 Mar, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 20 Mar, 2024 First submitted to journal 15 Mar, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4108242","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":282166314,"identity":"300dda73-54d7-4b3a-b8fb-ecf61aa98bdb","order_by":0,"name":"Jennifer L. 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