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Impact of microplastics on nicosulfuron accumulation and bacteria community in soil-earthworms system
Summary
Researchers investigated how microplastics affect the accumulation of the pesticide nicosulfuron in soil and earthworms. They found that at higher concentrations, microplastics nearly doubled the amount of pesticide that accumulated in earthworms while reducing the amount remaining in soil. The study also showed that microplastics decreased bacterial diversity in both soil and earthworm guts, suggesting they may alter how pesticides move through terrestrial food chains.
Microplastics (MPs) widely co-occur with various pollutants in soils. However, the data related to the impacts of MPs on terrestrial animal and microbial properties in pesticide-contaminated soils are few. In this study, the influence of MPs (0.01%, 0.1%, and 1%) on nicosulfuron concentrations in soil (10 µg/g) and earthworms were investigated, moreover, microbial community structure and diversity in soil and earthworm gut were also measured. After 30 days, the concentration of nicosulfuron in soil decreased to 1.27 µg/g, moreover, the residual concentration of nicosulfuron in soil (1%MPs and nicosulfuron) was only 44.8% of that in the single nicosulfuron treatment group. The accumulation of nicosulfuron in earthworms (1%MPs and nicosulfuron) was 7.37 µg/g, which was 1.82 times of that in the single nicosulfuron treatment group. In addition, 1% MPs decreased the richness and diversity of the soil and gut bacterial community in earthworms as well as altered microbial community composition, leading to the enrichment of specific microbial community. Our findings imply that MPs may change the migration of pesticides to terrestrial animal and as well as microbial diversity in earthworms and soil.