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Microplastics and Soil Nutrient Cycling
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Microplastics accumulating in agricultural soils can disrupt the natural cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus by altering microbial communities and reducing soil enzyme activity. This review highlights that even at current environmental concentrations, microplastics may impair the soil ecosystem functions that underpin food production, though the full extent of effects on nutrient cycles remains incompletely understood.
In recent decades, microplastic contamination in the terrestrial environment has become an emerging environmental issue. Microplastic accumulation in terrestrial environments occurs through composting, mulching, irrigation water, biosolids application, and atmospheric fallout; microplastics are likely to interact with soil nutrients, influencing their biogeochemical cycling. The carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous cycles are affected by microplastics-microbe interactions through the leaching of dissolved organic carbon and altered denitrification. The presence of microplastics in soil negatively affects its structural and functional aspects. Microplastics can decrease soil microbial enzyme activity, coding genes, microbial biomass carbon, and microbial carbon use efficiency, thereby indirectly affecting soil nutrient cycling. However, limited background knowledge is available on the influence of microplastics in soil nutrient cycling. This chapter focuses on factors affecting nutrient cycling in microplastic-contaminated soil. It also highlights the influence of microplastics on the redistribution of micronutrients and trace elements in soil and provides suggestions for future studies.
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Impact of Microplastic Contamination on Phosphorus Availability, Alkaline Phosphatase Activity, and Polymer Degradation in Soil
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Researchers studied how different types of microplastics at various concentrations affect phosphorus availability and enzyme activity in soil. They found that microplastics altered phosphorus cycling both by directly supplying phosphorus in some cases and by changing microbial enzyme function. The study suggests that microplastic contamination could disrupt soil nutrient dynamics important for maintaining agricultural productivity.
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