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Reusing water, reshaping nitrogen: Unravelling nitrogen dynamics in soils receiving treated wastewater.
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This review summarizes existing research on how treated wastewater used for irrigation affects nitrogen cycling in soil, including contaminants like microplastics. It finds effects vary depending on soil type, plant species, and treatment level, and identifies gaps needing further field and laboratory studies.
Soils are increasingly receiving treated wastewater (TWW) to support crop production and protect natural resources. However, besides water, various inputs, such as soil nutrients (salts), organic carbon, and various contaminants of emerging concern, including antibiotics, antibiotic resistance genes, pharmaceutical compounds, heavy metals, and microplastics, can be delivered. This review aims at (a) an integrated and mechanistic synthesis of current knowledge on potential impacts of TWW irrigation on key soil nitrogen turnover processes, such as nitrogen mineralization, nitrification, denitrification, and ammonia volatilization, and their drivers, and (b) identification of key knowledge and conceptual uncertainties to support future studies. Across the synthesis, no single, uniform TWW effect emerges. In fact, outcomes are consistently conditional on several co-factors, such as treatment level, irrigation duration, soil type, and plant species, with the latter two sometimes exerting effects exceeding those of water quality itself. TWW alters soil conditions through substrate availability, redox dynamics, soil acidity and salinity, and contaminant exposure, but the mechanistic evidence linking specific drivers to specific nitrogen-process outcomes is itself uneven. Identified knowledge and methodological gaps suggest long-term field studies across TWW regimes, soil types, and climates; designs capable of disentangling co-varying drivers at field scale; and laboratory studies addressing contaminant-specific impacts, microbial functional persistence, and potential decoupling between nitrogen and carbon dynamics, an effect already evident, though unexplored as a general phenomenon, within the reviewed literature. Overall, this review offers an integrated, system-level framework to support the evidence-based management of environmentally and climate-vulnerable soils receiving reclaimed or even conventional irrigation water.
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This review systematically analyzed how microplastics affect nitrogen transformation processes in soil. Researchers found that the size, shape, concentration, and polymer type of microplastics all influence soil nitrogen cycling through changes to microbial communities, soil structure, and enzyme activity. The study identifies key knowledge gaps and recommends standardized research approaches to better predict how microplastic pollution will alter soil nutrient dynamics.
Microplastic pollution on the soil and its consequences on the nitrogen cycle: a review
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This review examines microplastic pollution impacts on soil nitrogen cycling, finding that microplastics alter soil structure, serve as novel microbial colonization surfaces, and affect the microbial communities responsible for nitrogen fixation, nitrification, and denitrification.
Polyethylene microplastic and soil nitrogen dynamics: Unraveling the links between functional genes, microbial communities, and transformation processes
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Researchers conducted a six-month experiment to understand how polyethylene microplastics in soil affect nitrogen cycling, a process critical for soil fertility and plant nutrition. They found that while total nitrogen levels stayed stable, microplastics significantly altered the forms of nitrogen present by increasing ammonium and nitrate while decreasing dissolved organic nitrogen. The study suggests that microplastics reshape soil microbial communities and their nitrogen-processing activities, potentially disrupting the natural nutrient balance in agricultural soils.
[Advances in the Effects of Microplastics on Soil N2O Emissions and Nitrogen Transformation].
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This review synthesizes current research on how microplastics affect soil nitrogen cycling, including N2O emissions, nitrogen transformation processes, functional enzyme activity, and nitrogen-related genes, highlighting inconsistent findings due to variability in microplastic properties, experimental conditions, and spatial-temporal scales.
Unraveling consequences of soil micro- and nano-plastic pollution on soil-plant system: Implications for nitrogen (N) cycling and soil microbial activity
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This review examines how micro- and nano-plastics affect soil microbial activity and nitrogen cycling in agricultural ecosystems, finding mixed effects that depend on polymer type and size. The authors highlight concerns about biodegradable plastics posing greater risks to plant growth than conventional plastics, complicating the assumption that biodegradable options are always safer.
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