Effects of nano- or microplastic exposure combined with arsenic on soil bacterial, fungal, and protistan communities

The soil protistan community makes important contributions to the ecological functions of soil. However, our knowledge of the effects of pollutants, especially plastic particles, on the soil protistan community is still very limited compared to our knowledge on other soil microbes, such as bacterial and fungi. In this study, we revealed the effects of combined and single pollution caused by arsenic (As) and microplastics/nanoplastics (MPs/NPs) on bacterial, fungal and protistan communities. Our results revealed that combined pollution through As and MPs/NPs distinctly affected the composition and structure of the soil protistan communities (P < 0.05), but in the case of bacteria, only some families were altered, and there was no impact on fungi. Changes of soil protistan communities might be mainly due to As pollution, and MPs/NPs exposure increased this detrimental effect. Further, As + MPs exposure greatly increased the abundance of soil protistan parasites, and As + NPs exposure caused an evident decrease in the abundance of soil protistan consumers (P < 0.05). These findings indicate that combined pollution by As and MPs/NPs can affect the ecological functions of soil by altering soil protistan communities. These results will help enhance our understanding of the impact of plastic particles on soil ecosystems.