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The plastic-carbon-climate nexus: Carbon sequestration, microbial adaptation, and land use solutions for a warming microplastics-contaminated world
Summary
This review pulls together research showing that tiny plastic particles in soil don't just pollute the land, they mess with the microbes and carbon storage that help keep our climate stable, potentially triggering a worsening cycle where plastic pollution and global warming feed off each other. The encouraging news: smarter land management (like reducing plastic waste in farming) can help break this cycle, offering a practical path forward as scientists work to better understand the risks these plastics pose to soil health and, ultimately, the food systems we depend on.
Microplastics (MPs) affect biogeochemical cycles, but the mechanisms remain unclear due to uncertainties in soil properties and microbial interactions. This paper reviews the latest advances in how increasing MPs pollution alters soil carbon pool stability and microbial community phylogeny, thereby regulating the carbon cycle. In addition to the direct microbial utilization of MPs derivatives, changes in the oxygen environment and electron transport facilitate the mineralization of primary organic matter in soil. Complex agglomerates of MPs, minerals, and organic matter help mitigate this priming effect. Moreover, the plastisphere ecology enriches carbon-turnover microorganisms and regulates functional gene expression involved in carbon cycling, possibly inducing microbial adaptive evolution through different mechanisms. This leads to ecological niche reconstruction and further regulation of carbon turnover interactions within communities. Climate warming and MPs pollution form a positive feedback loop, posing substantial ecological risks. Meta-analysis indicates that targeted land-use management can effectively mitigate these risks by reducing MPs pollution. Future research should focus on MPs ecological risk classification, carbon turnover response thresholds, microbial interactions, the ecological risks of degradable plastics, and in situ monitoring techniques to promote sustainable soil management and support global carbon neutrality goals. Diagram showing the connections between bioavailable chemicals, plastic particles, carbon sources and sinks, and diverse microbial taxa affecting climate warming.The diagram illustrates the interactions of environmental components. At the top, "Bioavailable chemicals" is shown with molecular structures. On the left, "Plastic particles" include images of items like bags and bottles, linked to "Carbon source" and "Carbon sink". The center features "Carbon turnover function taxa," including diverse microorganisms surrounding DNA, indicating their roles in carbon cycling. Below is "Complex aggregates," representing smaller components. On the right, arrows connect "Land use strategy," "Plastic pollution," and "Climate warming," emphasizing their interrelated impacts.