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Exploring the blindspot: The soil plastisphere
Summary
This commentary reviews the emerging concept of the soil plastisphere — the unique microbial ecosystem colonizing plastic debris in soil — highlighting key differences from the better-studied marine plastisphere in microbial communities, biogeochemical cycles, and ecological effects. Understanding soil plastisphere dynamics is critical because these plastic-associated microbes may alter nutrient cycling, spread antibiotic resistance, and change how toxic chemicals move through agricultural and natural soils.
Plastic pollution is a growing concern in soil ecosystems worldwide. The accumulation of (micro)plastic debris leads to a unique microenvironment, termed the “plastisphere.” Notably, the dynamics and behaviors of the soil plastisphere diverge from its marine counterpart, where it is initially defined, thereby likely exhibiting an uncharacterized feature in ecological effects and biogeochemistry. The understanding of the soil plastisphere holds significant implications for environmental science and practical applications in pollution management and agricultural practices. Compared with the oceanic plastisphere, research on the soil plastisphere is still in its infancy with limited but significant studies contributing to current knowledge. A recent seminal work by Rillig et al. (Rillig et al., 2023. Nature Reviews Microbiology. doi:10.1038/s41579-023-00967-2) has inspired us and provided comprehensive insights into the characteristics and function of the soil plastisphere. In this commentary, we present core aspects of the soil plastisphere, encompassing its microbial communities, biogeochemical processes, and ecological implications, as well as highlight current methodologies probing this domain.