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Xenobiotic dynamics in mangroves and peatlands: Microbial mechanisms for nature-based mitigation
Summary
Researchers synthesized the first integrative review of xenobiotic contamination dynamics in peatlands and mangroves, cataloguing microbial mechanisms for sequestering, degrading, or utilizing pollutants including microplastics, and recommending that wetland restoration be paired with systematic microbiome exploration to leverage these ecosystems as both in-situ pollution buffers and reservoirs of bioremediation capacity.
Peatlands and mangroves provide substantial ecosystem services, but are increasingly threatened by xenobiotic contamination, posing escalating ecological risks. Here, we present the first integrative synthesis of the xenobiotic dynamics in these systems, mapping contaminant distributions and identifying emerging research priorities. Over time, research has shifted from oil spills and heavy metal pollution towards persistent organic pollutants, microplastics and climate risks. Peatlands remain substantially understudied compared to mangroves, especially for emerging contaminant classes. Xenobiotics disrupt the environment-biota linkages in these systems by impairing microbiome functionality; yet, subsets of microbial communities persist through adaptation and sharing of genomic traits. These traits enable xenobiotic sequestration, degradation or utilization. We compile a wetland-associated catalogue of microbial mechanisms and cross-environment analogues to guide bioprospecting and nature-based xenobiotic transformations. We recommend coupling wetland restoration with systematic microbiome exploration, positioning wetlands as in-situ buffers and ex-situ reservoirs for scalable, nature-based solutions for xenobiotic mitigation.