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Nitrogen supply neutralizes the nanoplastic-plant interaction in a coastal wetland
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Researchers investigated how nitrogen fertilization affects plant communities exposed to polypropylene nanoplastics in coastal wetlands, finding that nanoplastics alone reduce plant biomass and alter community structure, while combined nitrogen supply can partially offset these effects — suggesting nitrogen inputs may mitigate nanoplastic stress in restored saline-alkaline ecosystems.
The presence of nanoplastics posed a potential threat to coastal saline-alkaline wetlands where nitrogen (N) fertilizer is being implemented as an important ecological restoration measure. Notwithstanding, the effects of N inputs on plant community in polypropylene-nanoplastics (PP-NPs) coexistence environments are largely unknown. To address this, we investigated the effects of PP-NPs addition alone or combined N supply on community aboveground biomass, morphological traits, diversity, composition, niche differentiation, interspecific interactions, and assembly. Our results showed that the PP-NPs addition alone reduced community aboveground biomass and morphological traits. However, the addition of high concentration (0.5%) PP-NPs alone favored community α-diversity and reduced community stability, which could be weakened through combined N supply. Overall, the effect of PP-NPs addition alone on plant community composition was greater than that of combined N supply. We also demonstrated PP-NPs addition alone and combined N supply reduced the niche breadth of the plant community and affected the niche overlap of dominant species. In the assembly of plant communities, stochastic processes played a dominant role. We conclude that N fertilization can amend the terrestrial nanoplastics pollution, thus mitigating the effects of PP-NPs on the plant community.
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Researchers examined whether nitrogen and phosphorus addition could mitigate the negative effects of a multi-polymer, multi-size microplastic community on coastal saline-alkaline wetland ecosystems. They found that nutrient addition partially counteracted microplastic-induced disruption of ecosystem functions, suggesting that nutrient dynamics play a role in modulating ecosystem vulnerability to microplastic contamination.
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A greenhouse experiment found that polyethylene microplastics combined with nitrogen deposition reduced morphological traits of invaded wetland plant communities, altering competitive dynamics between invasive and native plants.
Toxicity of microplastics and nanoplastics to benthic Sargassum horneri: The role of nitrogen availability in modulating stress responses
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Researchers studied how micro- and nanoplastics affect the growth and stress responses of Sargassum horneri, a common seaweed, under different nitrogen conditions. They found that both particle sizes inhibited growth and disrupted photosynthesis, but high nitrogen levels could partially offset some of the damage from microplastics. The study highlights that nutrient availability plays an important role in how marine plants cope with plastic pollution.
Microplastics as pathway-selective modulators rewire nitrogen cycling in coastal wetlands: Polymer identity outweighs concentration
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Coastal wetlands act like natural water filters, using bacteria to remove excess nitrogen pollution before it causes harmful algae blooms in our oceans. This study found that certain plastics—especially polystyrene (like foam cups) and polypropylene (common in packaging)—can disrupt this filtering process, causing wetlands to trap nitrogen as ammonium instead of safely releasing it as gas. This matters because it means plastic pollution isn't just about visible litter or ingestion risks—it could be quietly weakening one of nature's key defenses against water pollution that affects seafood safety and coastal ecos
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