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Distinct Influence of Conventional and Biodegradable Microplastics on Soil Microorganisms and Nitrogen Cycling: Emphasizing the Effect of Biodegradable Polylactic Acid
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A one-month soil experiment comparing polyethylene, PVC, and biodegradable polylactic acid microplastics found that smaller particles and PLA had the greatest disruptive effects on bacterial diversity, nitrogen cycling, and enzyme activity, inhibiting nitrification while enhancing denitrification. The finding that biodegradable plastics can be equally or more disruptive to soil microbiomes than conventional plastics complicates assumptions that they represent a safe environmental alternative.
Biodegradable plastics are a feasible option to reduce plastic pollution, but the environmental effects of their release of microplastics (MPs) into the soil are still unclear. In this study, three typical types of MPs: polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, and biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA), with two particle sizes, were selected to systematically investigate the effects of short-term (one month) exposure to MPs on soil physicochemical properties, enzyme activities, and bacterial community structure and functions. The results showed that MPs exposure apparently increased the total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen contents (TN) by 27.08–48.58% and 4.5–20.9%, respectively, while decreasing the ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) and nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N) contents by 56.5–68.8% and 3.2–24%, respectively, but had no significant effect on pH and total phosphorus (TP) content. Small particle size (50 μm) MPs and PLA-MP had greater effects on soil enzyme activity. 50 μm PLA significantly decreased soil bacterial diversity (decreased by 9%, P < 0.05) and caused greater changes in bacterial community compositions and functions than other MPs. Nocardioides and Bacillus were proposed as MPs-degraders due to they were specifically enriched by MPs. Short-term exposure to MPs inhibited the nitrification process and organic degradation and synthesis processes, but enhanced the denitrification and nitrogen fixation processes. Our study highlighted the effect of smaller particle sizes of biodegradable PLA-MP on soil microbial community structure and function.
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Effects of Conventional and Biodegradable Microplastics on Soil Physicochemical Properties and Microorganisms
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A four-month soil incubation experiment compared conventional polyethylene (PE) and biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) microplastics, finding both alter soil organic carbon, nitrogen availability, enzyme activity, and microbial community composition — with PLA causing distinct effects due to its degradability. The finding that biodegradable plastics still significantly disrupt soil microbiology challenges assumptions about their environmental safety and suggests replacing conventional plastics with PLA does not eliminate ecological harm.
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This review finds that biodegradable plastics do not fully break down as commonly assumed—they fragment into microplastics that alter soil chemistry, disrupt microbial communities, harm soil organisms, and amplify the toxicity of co-occurring pollutants. The widespread adoption of biodegradable plastics as an environmental solution may be creating a new category of soil microplastic contamination with its own distinct ecological risks.
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Researchers tested three concentrations of polycaprolactone biodegradable microplastics in soil and found minimal effects on microbial community structure and plant growth in oilseed rape and lettuce, though temporary reductions in antioxidant enzyme activity and soluble protein were observed.
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