The versatility of plastic has led to its use in multiple and diverse industries. Its wide range use has had as a consequence contamination of environments. One environment particularly affected is the marine ecosystem. Although physical and chemical remediation tools are available for use in this area, they have their significant drawbacks. Bioremediation offers to address these drawbacks while dealing with the problem of plastic pollution. Marine fungi have been selected as the main bioremediation agents in this study. These fungi were found on plastic samples collected from three beaches in Nova Scotia: Kingsport, Houston’s Beach, and Scots Bay. The plastic debris was cut up, rinsed, and plated onto SWPDA+ (Salt water potato dextrose agar with antibiotics) plates to encourage fungal growth and inhibit bacterial growth. Subculturing produced axenic fungal cultures for DNA extraction and subsequent Sanger DNA sequencing for species-level identification based on the ITS rDNA region. Four candidate fungi isolated from Nova Scotia beach plastics were selected for further analysis. These four ascomycete fungi were Alternaria alternata, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Pleospora herbarum, and Trichoderma hamatum. Three-month growth assays were conducted to assess their plastic biodegradation capabilities on PP (polypropylene) and LDPE (low density polyethene) plastics including in simulated seawater conditions. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was then used to examine fungal growth and plastic degradation. Comparison between the results obtained and existing scientific literature on fungal degradation of plastic is discussed.
Call Number
LE3 .A278 2024
Date Issued
2024
Supervisor
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Degree Level
Honours
Degree Discipline
Affiliation
Abstract
Publisher
Acadia University