CDOM dynamics in the presence of inorganic (silica gel) versus polystyrene plastic particles: a laboratory study

The present dataset relates to an experiment studying the impacts of particles on chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) dynamics by comparing three scenarios: a particle-free environment, a particle-enriched system with polystyrene microplastics, and a particle-enriched system with inorganic particles (water insoluble SiO₂). In experimental part 1 of the experiment, natural marine organic matter was obtained by culturing a non-axenic strain of Chaetoceros socialis in 2 L flasks under each of three scenarios (1C = control, 2PS = polystyrene, 3S = silica).

The first dataset reports cell numbers per each 2 L flask for experimental part 1. Subsequently, in experimental part 2, filtered samples from the three flasks containing dissolved organic matter and bacteria were incubated separately in the dark in separate cuvettes (4 replicates per each scenario) for 5 days to monitor changes in dissolved organic matter. In this phase, Chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM), a bulk optical property, was monitored daily to examine changes in its quality and quantity and to compare degradation dynamics in the three systems (1C, 2PS and 3S).