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Soil protists are more resilient to the combined effect of microplastics and heavy metals than bacterial communities
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Researchers compared how soil protists and bacteria respond to combined exposure to microplastics and copper contamination. They found that bacterial communities were immediately affected by copper alone, while protist communities showed a delayed response that only appeared under combined pollution. The study suggests that soil protists are more resilient to mixed microplastic and heavy metal contamination than bacteria, but the combination still disrupts important ecological interactions like predation.
Heavy metals and micro-/nanoplastic pollution seriously threaten the environment and ecosystems. While many studies investigated their effects on diverse microbes, few studies have focused on soil protists, and it is unclear how soil protists respond to the combined effect of micro-/nanoplastics and heavy metals. This study investigated how soil protistan and bacterial communities respond to single or combined copper and micro-/nanoplastics. The bacterial community exhibited an instantaneous response to single copper pollution, whereas the combined pollution resulted in a hysteresis effect on the protistan community. Single and combined pollution inhibited the predation of protists and changed the construction of ecological networks. Though single and combined pollution did not significantly affect the overall community structure, the exposure experiment indicated that combined pollution harmed soil amoeba's fitness. These findings offer valuable new insights into the toxic effects of single and combined pollution of copper and plastics on soil protistan and bacterial communities. Additionally, this study shows that sequencing-based analyses cannot fully reflect pollutants' adverse effects, and both culture-independent and dependent methods are needed to reveal the impact of pollutants on soil microbes.
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Microplastics in heavy metal-contaminated soil drives bacterial community and metabolic changes
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Researchers found that adding common microplastics to soil already contaminated with heavy metals significantly changed the bacterial communities and their metabolic processes. The microplastics increased competition among bacteria and shifted how they process energy, while Proteobacteria became more abundant as a stress response. This matters because when microplastics and heavy metals combine in agricultural soil, they may disrupt the microbial ecosystems that keep soil healthy for growing food.
Effects of nano- or microplastic exposure combined with arsenic on soil bacterial, fungal, and protistan communities
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Researchers studied the combined and individual effects of arsenic and micro- or nanoplastics on soil bacterial, fungal, and protistan communities. The study found that combined pollution distinctly altered the composition of these microbial communities, with protistan communities being particularly sensitive, indicating that the co-occurrence of plastics and heavy metals in soil may have compounding ecological effects.
Earthworms alleviate microplastics stress on soil microbial and protist communities
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Researchers found that earthworms can help alleviate the negative effects of microplastic pollution on soil microbial and protist communities. In microcosm experiments, soils with earthworms showed more resilient bacterial, fungal, and protist communities when exposed to both conventional and biodegradable microplastics. The study suggests that soil macrofauna play an important role in buffering ecosystems against the disruptive effects of microplastic contamination.
Multi-trophic interactions determine the impact of distinct microplastic types on soil bacteria.
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Scientists found that different types of microplastics affect soil bacteria differently, and these effects get stronger when tiny worms called nematodes are also present, mimicking real soil conditions. This matters because soil health depends on these bacterial communities, and since our food grows in soil, understanding how plastic pollution disrupts this hidden ecosystem could have ripple effects on crop health and food safety.
Microplastics and phagotrophic soil protists: evidence of ingestion
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Researchers conducted the first study of microplastic interactions with phagotrophic soil protists, finding that these single-celled organisms can actively ingest microplastic particles. This matters because soil protists are key players in the soil food web and their exposure to microplastics could disrupt soil ecosystem functioning.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.