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Exploring the impacts of plastics in soil – The effects of polyester textile fibers on soil invertebrates
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Researchers tested the effects of short and long polyester fibers on four species of soil invertebrates including worms, springtails, and mites. They found that overall effects were slight, though enchytraeid worm reproduction decreased by up to 30% with increasing concentrations of long fibers, and isopod energy reserves were affected. The study indicates that while polyester microfibers are not highly toxic to soil organisms in the short term, they are ingested and could pose risks at higher environmental concentrations.
Polyester fiber is one of the most abundant types of microplastics in the environment. A major proportion of the fibers entering wastewater treatment plants end up in sewage sludge, which is used as a soil fertilizer in many countries. As their impacts in the terrestrial environment are still poorly understood, we studied the effects of polyester fibers on enchytraeids (Enchytraeus crypticus), springtails (Folsomia candida), isopods (Porcellio scaber) and oribatid mites (Oppia nitens), all playing an important role in soil decomposer food webs. We exposed these invertebrates in the laboratory to short (12 µm-2.87 mm) and long (4-24 mm) polyester fibers, spiked in soil or in food at five concentrations ranging from 0.02% to 1.5% (w/w) and using five replicates. Overall the effects of polyester fibers on the soil invertebrates were slight. Energy reserves of the isopods were slightly affected by both fiber types, and enchytraeid reproduction decreased up to 30% with increasing fiber concentration, but only for long fibers in soil. The low ingestion of long fibers by the enchytraeids suggests that this negative impact arose from a physical harm outside the organism, or from indirect effects resulting from changes in environmental conditions. The short fibers were clearly ingested by enchytraeids and isopods, with the rate of ingestion positively related to fiber concentration in the soil. This study shows that polyester fibers are not very harmful to soil invertebrates upon short-term exposure. However, longer lasting, multigeneration studies with functional endpoints are needed to reveal the possible long-term effects on soil invertebrates and their role in the decomposition process. This study also shows that polyester fibers can enter terrestrial food web via ingestion of fibers by soil invertebrates.
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Researchers investigated the effects of polystyrene microplastics on the soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, finding reduced reproduction, altered locomotion, and increased expression of stress-response genes at environmentally relevant concentrations.
Polyester-derived microfibre impacts on the soil-dwelling earthworm Lumbricus terrestris
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Researchers exposed earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris) to soil containing polyester microfibres from textile laundering at realistic concentrations for 35 days, finding no mortality but a 1.5-fold reduction in soil casting activity and a 24-fold increase in metallothionein stress gene expression at the higher dose — indicating sublethal functional impacts on a key soil ecosystem engineer.
Sublethal effects of microplastics sourced from polypropylene agricultural plastics on four soil invertebrate species
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Four soil invertebrate species were exposed to microplastics from polypropylene agricultural mulch at 0.005–5% concentrations in soil, finding reduced reproduction in enchytraeids and collembola and altered burrowing behavior in earthworms and isopods at higher doses.
Microplastic particles reduce reproduction in the terrestrial worm Enchytraeus crypticus in a soil exposure
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Researchers exposed terrestrial worms (Enchytraeus crypticus) to nylon and PVC microplastic particles of different sizes in soil. They found that while survival was unaffected, reproduction was significantly reduced at high concentrations, with smaller particles causing greater reproductive harm than larger ones. The study demonstrates that microplastic particle size is an important factor in determining toxicity to soil organisms, with implications for assessing environmental risk in terrestrial ecosystems.
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Adding polyester microplastics to soil slowed leaf litter decomposition rates but did not significantly alter the communities of soil microarthropods like mites and springtails. This suggests microplastics can disrupt important nutrient cycling processes in soil ecosystems even without directly killing soil-dwelling animals.
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