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Microplastics promote the accumulation of negative fungal groups and cause multigenerational effects in springtails
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Researchers found that polyethylene microplastics in soil promoted the growth of harmful fungi, including insect-killing species, and caused negative effects on springtails (tiny soil organisms) that persisted across multiple generations. Even springtails born after plastic exposure ended still showed harmful effects from the fungal changes caused by the plastics. This is the first study to show that microplastics can indirectly harm soil animals through changes to fungal communities, with effects that carry over to future generations.
The environmental persistence of microplastics (MPs) is ubiquitous and problematic. Despite an increase in research on the soil ecotoxicity of MPs, the response of springtails to MP pollution remains unexplored. We hypothesized that MPs promote the accumulation of negative soil fungal groups and cause multigenerational effects in springtails. We performed a multigenerational study of high-density polyethylene MPs using springtail Folsomia candida and analyzed the soil fungal community. We found that soil entomopathogenic fungi and negative soil fungal groups accumulated in springtail F. candida due to soil MP pollution; subsequently, MPs negatively affected F. candida in the F2 generation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the correlations between MP pollution, soil fungi, and fungi-feeding springtails. The study provides evidence of the accumulation of soil entomopathogenic fungi and negative soil fungal groups in F. candida caused by soil MP pollution.
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