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Interactive effects of microplastics and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on grassland communities
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Scientists found that tiny plastic particles in soil can mess with grasslands in unpredictable ways—sometimes boosting plant diversity, sometimes hurting it, depending on the type of plastic, the soil fungi present, and how much plastic was there. This matters because grasslands help store carbon, filter water, and support food systems, so as plastic pollution keeps building up in soil, it could quietly reshape ecosystems we depend on—even though the effects aren't simple or one-size-fits-all.
Societal Impact Statement Grassland plant communities contribute significantly to global biodiversity but face numerous man‐made pressures which may interfere with their ecological functions. One such pressure receiving increasing scientific, political, and public attention is microplastic pollution. Despite multifaceted effects on individual plants, plant‐community responses are rarely assessed. We show that, over two growing seasons, microplastics differentially affect the productivity and structure of experimental grassland communities, with various effects depending on initial community composition, microplastic characteristics, and plant‐mycorrhiza interactions. As grasslands facilitate ecological processes (e.g., carbon storage) and provide ecosystem services (e.g., food and water supply), our findings highlight the need for actions to preserve those important functions. Summary Terrestrial microplastic pollution is receiving increasing public and scientific attention. While diverse microplastic effects on individual plants' physiology, morphology, and productivity are known, how such effects transmit to the community level remains poorly understood. However, as grassland plant communities are central agents for ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services, assessing how microplastics may interfere with such functions is indispensable. To reduce this gap, we tested how six types of artificial particles and their interactions with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) affect the productivity and composition of plant communities representing dry and mesic grasslands over 17 months. Effects were strongest in the mesic, less diverse community type. Without artificial particles, community biomass was higher with AMF but lower without AMF, while AMF did not affect community biomass if artificial particles were present. Compared with glass, microplastics increased diversity with AMF but decreased it without AMF. Importantly, most effects depended on AMF inoculation and material type and concentration, revealing no universal pattern of microplastic pollution on grassland communities. Next to providing first evidence that microplastic effects on plant communities might change over time, our results highlight that such effects likely depend on particle and community characteristics and that responses differ between community traits such as productivity and diversity. Advancing the knowledge about ecological effects of microplastic pollution in terrestrial systems will require a stronger emphasis on community‐level experiments as well as incorporating temporal dynamics and the diversity of plastic pollution. Such work is essential to anticipate how accumulating plastic waste may alter grassland ecosystem functioning.
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Data for Speißer et al. 2026 "Interactive effects of microplastics and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on grassland communities"
AI summary Read the abstract
Scientists spent two years testing how tiny plastic particles in soil affect grassland plants, and whether helpful soil fungi (which normally boost plant growth) can offset any harm. This matters because microplastics are building up in soils everywhere, including farmland, and understanding their effects on plant communities helps us predict impacts on food production and ecosystems that we humans ultimately depend on.
Effects of microplastic types and shapes on the community structure of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in different soil types
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Researchers examined how different types and shapes of microplastics affect arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi communities across various soil types. The study found that microplastics alter soil structure and chemistry in ways that disrupt these beneficial fungi, which play crucial roles in nutrient exchange, soil stability, and water movement.
The Effect of Microplastics on Soil Microbial Activity, Biomass, and Microbial Community Structure in Three Types of Temperate Forest
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Scientists found that tiny plastic particles in forest soil can shift the balance of microorganisms living there, favoring bacteria over fungi and reducing the total amount of microbial life when the plastic pieces are especially small. Since these soil microbes play a key role in breaking down nutrients and keeping forest ecosystems healthy, this suggests that widespread microplastic pollution could quietly disrupt the natural systems that support clean soil, water, and the food chain we ultimately depend on.
Data for Speißer et al. 2026 "Interactive effects of microplastics and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on grassland communities" (http://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.70229)
AI summary Read the abstract
Scientists spent two years studying how tiny plastic particles in soil affect grasslands, including their interactions with helpful fungi that plants rely on for nutrients. This matters because microplastics are building up in soils everywhere—including farmland—and understanding how they disrupt plant communities and soil health helps us grasp the bigger picture of how plastic pollution could eventually work its way into our food supply and ecosystems we depend on.
Increasing soil microplastic diversity decreases community biomass via its impact on the most dominant species
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Researchers experimentally mixed different numbers and types of microplastics into soil hosting six plant species, finding that greater variety of microplastic types in the soil reduced total plant biomass — mainly by suppressing the growth of the dominant grass species. The results suggest that real-world environments contaminated with multiple types of microplastics may suffer greater ecological harm than studies using a single plastic type would predict.
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