Effects of Microplastics and Drought on Ecosystem Functions and Multifunctionality

Abstract Microplastics in soils have become an important threat for terrestrial systems, which can be exacerbated by drought as microplastics may affect soil water content. Thus, the interaction between these two factors may alter ecosystem functions such as litter decomposition, stability of soil aggregates, as well as functions related to nutrient cycling. Despite this potential interaction, we know relatively little about how microplastics, under different soil water conditions, affect ecosystem functions and ecosystem multifunctionality. To address this gap, we carried out a controlled-environment study using grassland plant communities. We applied the two factors microplastic fibers (absent, present) and soil water conditions (well-watered, drought), in all possible combinations in a factorial experiment. At harvest, we measured multiple ecosystem functions linked to nutrient cycling, litter decomposition, and soil aggregation and as terrestrial systems provide these functions simultaneously, we also assessed ecosystem multifunctionality. Our results showed that the interaction between microplastic fibers and drought affected ecosystem functions and multifunctionality. Overall, drought had negatively affected nutrient cycling by decreasing potential enzymatic activities and increasing nutrient leaching, while microplastic fibers had a positive impact on soil aggregation and nutrient retention by diminishing nutrient leaching. Microplastic fibers also impacted enzymatic activities, soil respiration and ecosystem multifunctionality, but importantly, the direction of these effects depended on soil water status (i.e., they decreased under well watered conditions, but tended to increase or had similar effects under drought conditions). Litter decomposition had a contrary pattern. Synthesis and applications . As soil water content is affected by climate change, our results suggest that areas with sufficiency of water would be negatively affected in their ecosystem functioning as microplastics increase in the soil; however, in areas subjected to drought, microplastics would have a neutral or slightly positive effect on ecosystem functioning.