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Effects of hexabromocyclododecane and polyethylene microplastics on soil bacterial communities
Summary
Researchers examined how the flame retardant hexabromocyclododecane and polyethylene microplastics, both separately and combined, affect bacterial communities in agricultural soil over four months. They found that microplastics and the combined exposure significantly altered bacterial diversity, while the flame retardant alone had less impact at low concentrations. The study suggests that the interaction between microplastics and chemical pollutants in soil can reshape microbial communities in ways that may affect soil function.
Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and polyethylene (PE) microplastic are ubiquitous pollutants, and knowledge about the effects of HBCD and PE pollution on soil bacterial communities remains obscure. In this study, the effects of different HBCD and PE concentrations and combined HBCD and PE exposure on the diversity, composition, and function of agricultural soil bacterial communities over 4 months were systematically examined for the first time. Generally, soil bacterial communities were influenced in both the 1-month and 4-month scenarios through HBCD and PE separately as well as combined exposure. After 4 months of exposure, PE and combined exposure significantly affected soil bacterial alpha diversity, however, low concentration of HBCD showed no apparent influence. 1-month and 4-month HBCD, PE, and combined exposure significantly influenced bacterial beta diversity. Compared with 1 month of exposure, HBCD, PE, and combined exposure demonstrated remarkable influences on soil bacteria after 4 months of exposure, especially on Nitrospirae, Elusimicrobia, Rokubacteria at the phylum level, and on MND1, Ruminiclostridium, Lysobacter, Anaeromyxobacter, Alistipes, WCHB1 at the genus level. The bacterial function analysis indicated that amino acid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, and membrane transport were the three predominant enriched bacterial functions after 1-month and 4-month HBCD and PE exposure. This research provides a comprehensive grasp of the effects of HBCD and PE pollution on soil microbial communities, which could have a beneficial impact on future soil pollution control.