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Ecological effect of microplastics on soil microbe-driven carbon circulation and greenhouse gas emission: A review
Summary
This review examines how microplastics in soil affect carbon cycling by altering microbial activity, with implications for greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Researchers found that microplastics can change soil structure, nutrient availability, and microbial community composition in ways that affect how carbon is stored or released from soil. The study suggests that widespread microplastic contamination in agricultural and natural soils could have far-reaching consequences for the global carbon balance.
Soil organic carbon (SOC) pool, the largest part of terrestrial ecosystem, controls global terrestrial carbon balance and consequently presented carbon cycle-climate feedback in climate projections. Microplastics, (MPs, <5 mm) as common pollutants in soil ecosystems, have an obvious impact on soil-borne carbon circulation by affecting soil microbial processes, which play a central role in regulating SOC conversion. In this review, we initially presented the sources, properties and ecological risks of MPs in soil ecosystem, and then the differentiated effects of MPs on the component of SOC, including dissolved organic carbon, soil microbial biomass carbon and easily oxidized organic carbon varying with the types and concentrations of MPs, the soil types, etc. As research turns into a broader perspective, greenhouse gas emissions dominated by the mineralization of SOC coming into view since it can be significantly affected by MPs and is closely associated with soil microbial respiration. The pathways of MPs impacting soil microbes-driven carbon conversion include changing microbial community structure and composition, the functional enzyme's activity and the abundance and expression of functional genes. However, numerous uncertainties still exist regarding the microbial mechanisms in the deeper biochemical process. More comprehensive studies are necessary to explore the affected footprint and provide guidance for finding the evaluation criterion of MPs affecting climate change.