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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Unveiling the impact of biodegradable polylactic acid microplastics on meadow soil health
ClearUnveiling the impact of biodegradable polylactic acid microplastics on meadow soil health
Scientists studied how biodegradable PLA microplastics affect meadow soil over 60 days and found they changed soil chemistry, enzyme activity, and microbial communities. Smaller PLA particles had a greater impact on enzyme activity, while larger particles changed soil properties more. These findings suggest that even biodegradable plastics can significantly alter soil health when they break down into microplastics.
Effect of polylactic acid microplastics on soil properties, soil microbials and plant growth
Researchers tested whether microplastics from biodegradable polylactic acid plastic, often proposed as an eco-friendly alternative to conventional plastic, affect soil health and plant growth. High concentrations of these biodegradable microplastics reduced soil pH, altered the ratio of carbon to nitrogen, decreased plant growth, and shifted soil microbial communities. The study suggests that even biodegradable plastics can negatively affect agricultural ecosystems when they break down into microplastic-sized particles.
Transformation of Polylactic Acid (PLA) Microparticles in Soil and their Effects on Soil Properties: A Review
This review examined how polylactic acid (PLA) microplastics transform in soil over time and affect soil physical, chemical, and biological properties including pH, organic matter, nutrient cycling, and microbial communities, highlighting the complexities of PLA as a supposedly biodegradable agricultural plastic.
[Effects of Polylactic Acid Microplastics （PLA-MPs） on Physicochemical Properties and Microbial Communities of Wheat Rhizosphere Soil].
Researchers investigated how polylactic acid microplastics affect wheat rhizosphere soil and found that they significantly altered soil chemistry, increasing phosphorus and organic matter while decreasing total nitrogen and pH. The microplastics also reduced the richness and diversity of soil microorganisms, with larger particles and higher concentrations causing the greatest disruption. The study suggests that even biodegradable plastics can meaningfully reshape soil microbial communities and nutrient cycling in agricultural settings.
Microplastics alter soil structure and microbial community composition
Researchers found that both conventional polyethylene and biodegradable polylactic acid microplastics break down soil structure in similar ways, increasing the proportion of smaller soil clumps while reducing larger, more stable ones. The microplastics also significantly altered soil bacterial communities, with effects varying by particle size. This matters because changes to soil health can affect the food we grow and the broader ecosystem services that soil provides.
Hydrolyzable microplastics in soil—low biodegradation but formation of a specific microbial habitat?
Hydrolyzable microplastics such as polylactic acid showed low biodegradation in soil despite their marketed degradability, while their surfaces hosted distinct microbial communities forming a specialized plastisphere. The study questions the environmental safety of biodegradable plastics in agricultural soil contexts.
Effects of biodegradable microplastics on soil microbial communities and activities: Insight from an ecological mesocosm experiment
Researchers studied how biodegradable microplastics made from starch-based materials affect soil microbial communities in a controlled ecosystem experiment over 11 weeks. They found that higher concentrations of these biodegradable particles actually increased the diversity of both bacteria and fungi in soil, while also boosting enzyme activity. The findings suggest that even so-called eco-friendly plastics can significantly alter soil microbial ecosystems, which could have broader consequences for soil health and nutrient cycling.
Aging of biodegradable plastics alters soil aggregate stability and organic carbon through shifts in microbial community composition
Researchers examined how polylactic acid (PLA) drinking straw fragments at varying concentrations alter soil aggregate stability, organic carbon, and microbial communities, finding that moderate concentrations initially boosted aggregate stability and microbial diversity before higher concentrations caused decline, while PLA degradation enriched potentially pathogenic bacteria.
Field application of biodegradable microplastics has no significant effect on plant and soil health in the short term
Researchers conducted a field study to test whether biodegradable polylactic acid microplastics affect oat and soybean growth or soil health over one growing season. They found that neither fiber nor powder forms of the biodegradable microplastics had significant effects on soil enzyme activities, plant biomass, or crop yield. The study suggests that biodegradable microplastics may not pose a significant short-term threat to agricultural ecosystems and could serve as a viable alternative to conventional plastics.
Effects of polylactic acid microplastics on dissolved organic matter across soil types: Insights into molecular composition
Researchers investigated how biodegradable polylactic acid microplastics affect dissolved organic matter in three different types of paddy soil. They found that the microplastics altered the molecular composition of organic matter in soil-specific ways, with some soils showing increased humic substances and others showing more protein-like compounds. The study highlights that even biodegradable plastics can change soil chemistry, and the effects vary depending on soil type.
Effects of different microplastic types on soil physicochemical properties, enzyme activities, and bacterial communities
A 230-day experiment tested six types of microplastics in soil and found that each type differently altered soil moisture, chemistry, enzyme activity, and microbial communities. Biodegradable plastic (PHA) caused the most significant disruption to beneficial soil bacteria, which matters for human health because soil microbe changes can affect crop nutrition and food safety.
Mineralization and microbial utilization of poly(lactic acid) microplastic in soil
Researchers tracked how polylactic acid (PLA) microplastics, a common biodegradable plastic, actually break down in different agricultural soils. They found that standard testing methods significantly overestimate how quickly PLA degrades because they fail to account for interactions with soil organic matter. The study reveals that PLA microplastics may persist longer in some soils than previously thought, raising questions about how truly biodegradable these materials are in real-world conditions.
Discrepant responses of bacterial community and enzyme activities to conventional and biodegradable microplastics in paddy soil
Researchers compared the soil effects of conventional polypropylene microplastics versus biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) microplastics in rice paddy soil over 41 days. Both types altered soil chemistry and bacterial communities, but they had different effects on enzyme activity, with PLA causing distinct changes to carbon and nitrogen cycling. This matters because biodegradable plastics, often assumed to be safer, still release microplastics that affect soil health and potentially food crops.
Impact of moisture on the degradation and priming effects of poly(lactic acid) microplastic
Researchers examined how soil moisture levels affect the degradation of biodegradable poly(lactic acid) microplastics and their influence on soil organic carbon decomposition. The study found that moisture significantly increased PLA degradation in acidic soils, and PLA induced both positive and negative priming effects on native soil carbon depending on moisture levels and soil type.
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.
Mixing effect of polylactic acid microplastic and straw residue on soil property and ecological function
A pot experiment examined effects of polylactic acid (biodegradable) microplastics and straw residue on soil microbial communities and carbon/nitrogen dynamics, finding that PLA MPs had minimal effect on bacterial diversity but interacted with carbon availability to alter microbial function. The results suggest biodegradable microplastics are not ecologically neutral in soil ecosystems.
MicrobialPhysiologicalAdaptation to BiodegradableMicroplastics Drives the Transformation and Reactivity of DissolvedOrganic Matter in Soil
Researchers added virgin and aged polylactic acid and polyhydroxyalkanoate microplastics to agricultural soils and found that microbial physiological adaptation to biodegradable plastics significantly altered the transformation and reactivity of dissolved organic matter over a 56-day incubation period.
Biodegradable microplastics decreased plant-derived and increased microbial-derived carbon formation in soil: a two-year field trial
A two-year field experiment compared the effects of conventional (polypropylene) and biodegradable (polylactic acid, PLA) microplastics on soil carbon cycling in agricultural soil. Researchers found that while neither plastic type changed total soil carbon levels, PLA microplastics significantly reduced plant-derived carbon (lignin) by 32% while boosting microbial-derived carbon, suggesting that "biodegradable" plastics still meaningfully alter soil biology and chemistry. This matters because it challenges the assumption that biodegradable plastics are environmentally benign once they break down in farmland.
Effects of microplastics and acid rain on soil chemical properties, enzyme activity, and bacterial communities
A controlled soil experiment found that conventional polyethylene and biodegradable polylactic acid microplastics both alter soil microbial communities and nutrient dynamics, with effects that change further under acid rain conditions — for example, biodegradable PLA at 2% concentration reduced bacterial diversity and shifted community composition. The results suggest that acid rain, which affects large regions of China and Europe, can amplify the soil ecosystem disruptions caused by microplastics, compounding two major environmental stressors.
Microplastics alter microbial structure and assembly processes in different soil types: Driving effects of environmental factors
Researchers investigated how biodegradable polylactic acid and conventional polyethylene microplastics affect soil microbial communities across different soil types. They found that PLA increased dissolved organic carbon and pH while decreasing nitrogen availability, whereas polyethylene had contrasting effects depending on soil type. The study reveals that microplastic impacts on microbial community structure and assembly processes are soil-type-specific, with dissolved organic carbon driving changes in red soil and pH being the primary factor in fluvo-aquic soil.
Response of soil enzyme activities and bacterial communities to the accumulation of microplastics in an acid cropped soil
Researchers tested how polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride microplastics at different concentrations affect enzyme activity and bacterial communities in acidic agricultural soil. Both types of microplastics reduced the diversity of soil bacteria while stimulating certain enzymes related to nitrogen and phosphorus cycling. The findings suggest that microplastic accumulation in farmland may alter important soil biological processes, potentially affecting nutrient cycling and the breakdown of pollutants.
Microplastics in soil ecosystems: soil fauna responses to field applications of conventional and biodegradable microplastics
Researchers conducted a field experiment comparing the effects of conventional polyethylene and polypropylene microplastics with biodegradable polylactic acid and polybutylene succinate microplastics on soil fauna communities, finding no significant effects on community composition after 40 days at any concentration tested.
Soil biota modulate the effects of microplastics on biomass and diversity of plant communities
Researchers used mesocosm experiments with natural soil biota to compare the effects of biodegradable and non-biodegradable microplastics on plant community biomass and diversity. Soil biota modulated the impact of microplastics, with biodegradable plastics showing similar effects to conventional plastics on plant community structure, challenging the assumption that biodegradable alternatives are environmentally benign.
The plastisphere of biodegradable and conventional microplastics from residues exhibit distinct microbial structure, network and function in plastic-mulching farmland
Researchers compared the bacterial communities that colonize biodegradable and conventional plastic microplastics in farmland soil. They found that biodegradable plastics (PBAT/PLA) and conventional polyethylene each attracted distinct microbial communities with different functions, including bacteria that could degrade plastics or cycle nutrients. The results suggest that even biodegradable plastics create unique microbial environments in soil that may affect soil health and function in unexpected ways.