Distinct microbial communities in the microplastisphere of inland wetlands: Diversity, composition, co-occurrence networks, and functions.

Plastic pollution has emerged as a growing global environmental challenge. However, knowledge regarding microbial ecological patterns in the plastisphere of inland wetland ecosystems remains limited. In this study, surrounding soil, macroplastisphere, and microplastisphere samples were collected from different types of inland wetlands. Bacterial and fungal communities in the plastisphere and surrounding soil were investigated using 16S rRNA and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing, respectively. Results showed that the α-diversity of bacterial communities in both the macroplastisphere and microplastisphere was significantly lower than that in the surrounding soil across all three wetland types. The α-diversity of fungal communities was lower in the microplastisphere than in both the macroplastisphere and the surrounding soil. At the amplicon sequence variant (ASV) level, certain members of Sphingomonas, Nocardioides, Nothophoma, and Pyrenochaetopsis were exclusively detected in the microplastisphere and absent from both surrounding soil and the macroplastisphere. Network analysis indicated that the bacterial network complexity in the microplastisphere was lower, with higher modularity compared to surrounding soil and the macroplastisphere. The metabolic pathways belonging to human diseases category were significantly enriched in the microplastisphere bacterial communities. In summary, the microplastisphere could form a distinct microbial community that differs significantly from those in soil and the macroplastisphere.