The ecological impacts of plastics and their additives on marine microbiota remain unclear. We applied prokaryotic 16S rRNA gene and fungal ITS2 region amplicon sequencing, alongside shotgun metagenomic sequencing, to identify compositional and functional changes in microbial communities on marine plastic. Five common plastics, both non‐aged and artificially aged, were submerged in Auckland Harbour, Aotearoa‐New Zealand. Biofi...

Globally, there is a move towards using local, native species for ecotoxicological risk assessments. Anthropogenic stressors from urban, agricultural, and industrial activities can impact the health of receiving ecosystems. Biomarkers can provide valuable insights as early warning signals of the potential environmental impacts of stressors. The aim of this study was to develop biomarkers in the green‐lipped mussel ( Perna cana...

Conventional microbial fuel cells (MFCs) consist of biological anodes and abiotic cathodes separated by a proton‐exchange membrane. The abiotic cathode usually catalyses the reduction of oxygen to produce water by means of expensive catalysts such as platinum. 1 The cathodic reaction is often limiting in MFCs and researchers are now focusing on efficient, low‐cost catalysts to improve oxygen reduction at the cathode. This pape...

We assess the utility of bacterial community data for providing an indication of stream health in a recently ‘restored’ urban stream. A community DNA fingerprinting technique was used to characterise the bacterial community within Okeover Stream, and a lesser impacted, nearby stream. No significant differences in bacterial community structure were detected between streams. However, further investigation revealed highly elevate...