Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Spatio-temporal distribution of soil microbial communities and nutrient availability around a municipal solid waste landfill

Despite its title referencing soil microbial communities near a municipal solid waste landfill, this paper studies bacterial and fungal community composition in soils surrounding a landfill — not microplastic pollution. It examines how proximity to the landfill affects microbial diversity and nutrient cycling and is not directly relevant to microplastics or human health.

2025 Frontiers in Microbiology 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Investigation of Soil-Dwelling Bacterial Community Changes Induced by Microplastic Ex posure Using Amplicon Sequencing

Researchers analyzed soil bacterial community composition after microplastic contamination, finding that different polymer types caused distinct shifts in microbial diversity and functional groups, with implications for soil nutrient cycling and agricultural productivity.

2025 Korean Science Education Society for the Gifted
Article Tier 2

Microplastic polymer properties as deterministic factors driving terrestrial plastisphere microbiome assembly and succession in the field

Researchers incubated five common microplastic polymer types in landfill soil for 14 months and used 16S rRNA sequencing to characterize the plastisphere communities that assembled on each polymer. Polymer type was a significant deterministic factor in plastisphere microbiome composition, which differed from surrounding soil communities and varied over time.

2022 Environmental Microbiology 48 citations
Article Tier 2

New insights on municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill plastisphere structure and function

Characterization of a large municipal solid waste landfill plastisphere found that plastic surfaces harbored more diverse bacterial communities than surrounding refuse, with abundant plastic-degrading genera including Bacillus, Pseudomonas, and Paenibacillus detected in both environments.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 21 citations
Article Tier 2

Degradation of microplastics in artificially polluted soil by bacterial and fungal isolates originating from landfill leachate

Researchers tested whether bacterial and fungal isolates from landfill leachate could degrade polyethylene and polypropylene microplastics in artificially polluted agricultural soil, finding that the microbial isolates showed measurable degradation activity against both polymer types.

2025 Soil & Environment
Article Tier 2

Earthworms Significantly Alter the Composition, Diversity, Abundance and Pathogen Load of Fungal Communities in Sewage Sludge from Different Urban Wastewater Treatment Plants

Earthworms exposed to microplastic-contaminated soil were found to significantly alter the composition, diversity, and abundance of potentially pathogenic soil bacteria, suggesting that earthworm bioturbation in MP-contaminated soils may have unintended effects on soil microbiome health.

2025 Pathogens 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Bacterial communities on soil microplastic at Guiyu, an E-Waste dismantling zone of China

Researchers characterized bacterial communities colonizing soil microplastics at Guiyu, China — a major e-waste dismantling zone — using high-throughput sequencing, finding that microplastic-associated bacterial communities differed significantly from surrounding soil communities and varied with the type of e-waste dismantling activity.

2020 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 104 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of different concentrations and types of microplastics on bacteria and fungi in alkaline soil

Researchers examined how different types and concentrations of polyethylene, polystyrene, and PVC microplastics affect soil bacteria and fungi in alkaline soil over 310 days, finding that all three stimulated enzyme activities and shifted microbial community abundance patterns.

2021 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 166 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial Isolates in Microplastic-Polluted Soil

Researchers isolated and characterized microbial communities from microplastic-polluted soil, identifying bacteria capable of colonizing plastic surfaces and assessing their potential roles in plastic degradation and soil nutrient cycling.

2024 African Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research
Article Tier 2

Characterization and Human Health Risk Assessment of Fungal Species Isolated from Landfill Soil in Najaf Ashraf, Iraq

Researchers isolated fungal species from microplastic surfaces collected in environmental samples and characterized their diversity and human health risks, finding that certain opportunistic fungal pathogens were enriched on plastic surfaces compared to surrounding water and sediment.

2025
Article Tier 2

Microplastic impacts archaeal abundance, microbial communities, and their network connectivity in a Sub-Saharan soil environment

Researchers used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to characterise prokaryotic communities in native plastisphere and soil from Sub-Saharan African environments with high unmanaged plastic waste. The plastisphere enriched distinct bacterial communities and archaeal taxa compared to surrounding soil, and high-population sites showed elevated potential pathogen abundance.

2025 FEMS Microbiology Ecology
Article Tier 2

Distinct Bacterial and Fungal Communities Colonizing Waste Plastic Films Buried for More Than 20 Years in Four Landfill Sites in Korea

Researchers analyzed bacterial and fungal microbial communities colonizing waste plastic films buried for over 20 years at four landfill sites in Korea, finding distinct community compositions across sites and identifying microorganisms with potential for long-term plastic biodegradation.

2022 Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial Diversity of the Surface of Polypropylene and Low Density Polyethylene‐Based Materials (Plastisphere) From an Area Subjected to Intensive Agriculture

Researchers analyzed the microbial communities colonizing polypropylene and polyethylene plastic debris from an agricultural landfill site. They found that while overall bacterial diversity was similar between plastic surfaces and surrounding soil, the plastic-associated communities had distinct compositions with higher proportions of certain bacterial groups. The study suggests that these plastisphere communities may be actively degrading plastic additives and could harbor potential plastic-degrading organisms.

2025 MicrobiologyOpen 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Abundance and Characteristics in The Soil Around the Jambi Talang Gulo Landfill

Researchers measured microplastic abundance and characterized particle types in soil surrounding the Talang Gulo landfill in Jambi, Indonesia, finding that the high volume of plastic waste at the facility contributes to elevated microplastic contamination in surrounding soils through environmental weathering and fragmentation.

2024 Bumi
Article Tier 2

The Spatiotemporal Successions of Bacterial and Fungal Plastisphere Communities and Their Effects on Microplastic Degradation in Soil Ecosystems

Researchers tracked how bacterial and fungal communities colonize microplastic surfaces in soil over time, finding that the surrounding soil type had the strongest influence on which microbes grew on the plastics. The microbial communities on microplastics were less diverse and less stable than those in the surrounding soil, but they attracted microbes with a higher capacity to break down organic carbon. The study suggests that microplastic surfaces become hotspots for carbon metabolism in soil ecosystems.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology 16 citations
Article Tier 2

The Analysis of the Mycobiota in Plastic Polluted Soil Reveals a Reduction in Metabolic Ability

Researchers analyzed soil fungal biodiversity and microbial metabolic profiles at three sites in northern Italy with varying levels of macro- and microplastic contamination, using Biolog EcoPlates for metabolic analysis and metabarcoding of the ITS1 ribosomal cDNA fragment for fungal community characterization. They found a significant decrease in soil microbial metabolic ability at the site with the highest microplastic concentration and distinct fungal community composition between the most pristine and more polluted sites, with Mortierellomycota dominant across all sites.

2022 Journal of Fungi 14 citations
Article Tier 2

The Terrestrial Plastisphere: Diversity and Polymer-Colonizing Potential of Plastic-Associated Microbial Communities in Soil

Soil-buried plastic debris harbored microbial communities clearly distinct from surrounding bulk soil and from aquatic plastisphere communities, with a core set of plastic-colonizing taxa including Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria detected across both polymer types tested, suggesting that terrestrial plastisphere colonization follows predictable ecological rules.

2021 Microorganisms 70 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial communities associated with plastic mulch debris in agricultural soils

Researchers characterized microbial communities colonizing agricultural plastic mulch debris in soil using both culture-dependent and high-throughput sequencing methods. The plastic surfaces harbored distinct microbial communities compared to surrounding soil. Understanding which microbes colonize agricultural plastic debris is important for assessing biodegradation potential and the ecological role of the plastisphere in farmland.

2023 1 citations
Review Tier 2

[Interaction between microplastics and microorganisms in soil environment: a review].

This review examines how microplastics alter soil microbial community structure and diversity, and how microorganisms in turn colonize plastic surfaces and degrade them through extracellular enzymes — with degradation efficiency dependent on polymer properties and environmental conditions.

2023 PubMed 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Identification and Characterization of Microplastic Degrading Bacteria in Three Landfills of Lampung Province

Researchers isolated and characterized microplastic-degrading bacteria from three landfills in Lampung Province, Indonesia, identifying species capable of using plastic as a carbon source with potential utility for bioremediation of plastic-contaminated sites.

2025 Jurnal Bioteknologi & Biosains Indonesia (JBBI)
Article Tier 2

Microbial remediation of microplastic-contaminated soil, focusing on mechanisms, benefits, and research gaps

This systematic review examines microbial bioremediation of microplastic-contaminated soils, covering the sources and distribution of soil microplastics, their physicochemical interactions with soil microbiomes, and the mechanisms by which soil-dwelling bacteria and fungi degrade plastic polymers.

2025 npj Emerging Contaminants 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution in landfill soil: Emerging threats the environmental and public health

Researchers measured microplastic contamination in soil at a landfill near residential areas in Indonesia and found extremely high levels of over 60,000 particles per kilogram. The most common types were fragments of polyethylene, PVC, polystyrene, and polypropylene. The study raises public health concerns because landfills near populated areas can release microplastics into surrounding soil and water, creating exposure pathways for nearby communities.

2024 Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology 17 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessing Microplastic Contamination Effects on Soil Microbial Communities in Agricultural Land

This study sampled agricultural soils with varying degrees of microplastic contamination to assess effects on microbial diversity, abundance, and enzymatic activity, finding that higher microplastic concentrations reduced microbial diversity and suppressed nutrient-cycling enzyme activity.

2025 ACADEMIA Biota Nexus Journal
Article Tier 2

Degradation of microplastics and the plastisphere bacteria in the acidogenic phase of simulated municipal solid waste landfilling

Researchers simulated conditions inside a municipal solid waste landfill and found that different microplastic types (PE, PS, and PLA) aged and degraded at very different rates during the acidogenic leachate phase, with distinct microbial communities forming on each plastic type. This matters because landfills are both sources and sinks for microplastics, and understanding how plastics degrade there helps predict what eventually leaches into groundwater and surrounding soil.

2026 Environmental Research