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Atmospheric microplastic input into wetlands: Spatiotemporal patterns, drivers, and unique ecological impacts
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Researchers monitored atmospheric microplastic deposition across 11 cities along China's lower Yangtze River Basin over four seasons. They found an average deposition rate of 512 items per square meter per day, equivalent to an estimated 17.46 metric tons of plastic annually entering the surveyed wetlands. Vehicle density and the textile industry were identified as primary drivers, and experiments showed that deposited microplastics altered moss bacterial communities, suggesting ecological impacts on wetland ecosystems.
Wetlands are major microplastic sinks with a large atmospheric input. However, many details of such deposited atmospheric microplastics entering into wetlands remain unclear, including temporal patterns of input and ecological effects. We monitored the aerial microplastics during four seasons in eleven economically developed cities along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin, China. The average microplastic deposition rate was 512.31 items m d, equivalent to an annual contribution of 17.46 metric tons of plastic to the surveyed wetlands with a total area of 1652 km. These microplastics were predominantly composed of polyamide and polyethylene terephthalate with 61.85 ± 92.29 µm sized pellets, and we obtained similar results for microplastics intercepted on moss in wetlands. Microplastic input varied between wet and dry periods, primarily influenced by wind, rainfall and ozone concentration. Civilian vehicle density and textile industry were the primary socioeconomic factors driving microplastic deposition. Further indoor microcosm experiments revealed that moss phyllosphere bacterial community structure and function were influenced by microplastic abundance and size, exemplifying the unique ecological risks of aerially deposited microplastics to wetlands. These results indicate that mosses and their phyllosphere microbiota could serve as bio-indicators of aerial microplastic characteristics and impacts.
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