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NO3−-N pulse supply caused by biodegradable plastics exacerbates Trifolium repens L. invasion
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Researchers investigated how biodegradable microplastics (BMPs) exacerbate the invasion of Trifolium repens L. by generating nitrate-nitrogen pulse supply, linking this to enhanced arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonization and subsequent rhizobia enrichment. The study connects the pulse resource hypothesis to BMP-mediated soil nitrogen dynamics that favor legume invasion.
The exacerbation of plant invasion by microplastics attracted widespread attention. Pulse resource hypothesis is popular theory to elucidate plant invasion. Our previous work demonstrated biodegradable microplastics (BMPs) could increase the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonization rate. Reportedly, AMF can enhance rhizobia colonization. Therefore, we infer the coexistence of BMPs with legumes may lead to an increased colonization of rhizobia with negative feedback regulation of N fixation. This could result in NO-N pulse supply, thereby exacerbating plant invasion. Subsequently, a 60-day pot experiment was conducted using Trifolium repens L. as invasive plant and Oxalis corniculata L. as native plant, with 1% or 5% wt BMPs. AMF colonization, BMPs degradation, NO-N content and pulse supply, rhizobia colonization, relative competitive intensity, replacement diagrams and NO-N utilization were determined. The mechanism was clarified through heat map and structural equation model. The results reveal the greater the NO-N consumption by BMPs, the more AMF promoted rhizobia colonization in T. repens, thereby the larger the pulse amplitude of NO-N supply, then, the higher the NO-N utilization rate of T. repens. It exacerbates T. repens invasion. This study clarifies effects of BMPs on rhizobia's N fixation, and enriches the evidence on mechanism of BMPs exacerbating plant invasion.
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Researchers reviewed how microplastics entering agricultural soils via mulch films, organic amendments, and irrigation disrupt soil microbiomes, impair nitrogen fixation and nitrification by 15–40%, reduce mycorrhizal associations, and may transfer up food chains, while highlighting major gaps in long-term field validation and mechanistic understanding.
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Researchers conducting a field experiment found that microplastics in agricultural soil disrupt the nitrogen cycle in a soybean-maize rotation system, inhibiting the natural nitrogen fixation that legumes provide and increasing the conversion of ammonium to nitrate — a form more prone to leaching away — raising concerns for long-term soil fertility.
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Researchers studied how both conventional and biodegradable microplastics affect nitrogen cycling in soil over 120 days. They found that biodegradable microplastics significantly disrupted microbial nitrogen processes by acting as a carbon source that shifted bacterial communities toward nitrogen-fixing species. The findings suggest that even biodegradable plastics in soil can alter nutrient availability in ways that may affect soil fertility and plant growth.
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