Table 2.

Marine microorganisms isolated from the plastic surface

Microorganism	Source	Plastic	References
Phormidium, Lewinella	Microbial communities attached to PET drinking bottles submerged in the North Sea off the UK coasta	PET	Oberbeckmann et al. (2016)
Phormidium sp., Rivularia	Microplastic from the North Atlantic	PP, PE	Zettler et al. (2013)
Stanieria, Pseudophormidium	Microbial communities attached to PET drinking bottles submerged in the North Sea off the UK coasta	PET	Oberbeckmann et al. (2014)
Pseudophormidium sp., Phormidium sp.	Plastic particles harvested off the coasts of the UK, Germany, and Denmark	PP, PE	Oberbeckmann et al. (2014, 2016)
Proteobacteria, Bacteroides	Microplastic harvested off the Belgian part of the North Sea	Microplastic	De Tender et al. (2015)
Arcobacter Colwellia spp.	Coastal marine sediments within the Humber Estuary, UK	LDPE	Harrison et al. (2011)

Biodegration process not proven

^aExperiment in vivo