Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

The Structural and Functional Responses of Rhizosphere Bacteria to Biodegradable Microplastics in the Presence of Biofertilizers

Researchers studied how biodegradable microplastics interact with biofertilizers in crop soils and found that even though biodegradable plastics are designed as greener alternatives, they still significantly altered soil bacterial communities and disrupted carbon metabolism pathways. The findings suggest that biodegradable microplastics may affect soil health differently than conventional plastics, but are not necessarily harmless.

2024 Plants 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics on common bean rhizosphere bacterial communities

Researchers studied how polyethylene and biodegradable microplastics affect bacterial communities in the root zone of common beans. Both types of microplastics significantly altered the diversity and composition of rhizosphere bacteria, with biodegradable microplastics inducing more distinctive changes than conventional polyethylene at higher concentrations.

2022 Applied Soil Ecology 75 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of polyethylene microplastics on the microbial community structure of maize rhizosphere soil

Researchers investigated how polyethylene microplastics from agricultural films affect the microbial communities in crop root zones (rhizosphere), finding shifts in bacterial diversity and function. Disrupting soil microbiomes through microplastic contamination could have downstream effects on soil fertility and crop health.

2021 中国生态农业学报 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic particles alter wheat rhizosphere soil microbial community composition and function

Researchers found that microplastic particles altered wheat rhizosphere soil microbial community composition and function, with different polymer types inducing distinct shifts in bacterial diversity and nutrient cycling processes.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 139 citations
Article Tier 2

Multi-omics reveals different impact patterns of conventional and biodegradable microplastics on the crop rhizosphere in a biofertilizer environment

Researchers used advanced multi-omics techniques to compare how conventional polyethylene microplastics and biodegradable plastic microplastics affect the root zone of crops grown with biofertilizer. They found that both types disrupted the soil microbial community, but through different mechanisms, with biodegradable plastics unexpectedly causing more changes to the bacterial community structure. The study suggests that even biodegradable agricultural plastics may interfere with the effectiveness of biofertilizers in soil.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 21 citations
Article Tier 2

Rhizospheric bacterial communities against microplastics (MPs): Novel ecological strategies based on the niche differentiation

Researchers studied how bacterial communities living around plant roots adapt when exposed to microplastics in soil. They found that rhizosphere bacteria developed distinct survival strategies depending on their ecological niche, with some species thriving while others declined in the presence of plastics. The study reveals that microplastics can reshape the microbial communities that plants depend on for nutrient uptake and disease resistance.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 6 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 214 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2024 Journal of Applied Ecology 6 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

Succession of soil bacterial communities and network patterns in response to conventional and biodegradable microplastics: A microcosmic study in Mollisol

Using a soil microcosm experiment, researchers compared how conventional polyethylene and biodegradable microplastics affected soil bacterial communities over 90 days across four dosages. Biodegradable microplastics induced greater community dissimilarity from controls and tended to enrich environmentally beneficial taxa, while conventional polyethylene promoted potentially hazardous bacteria.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 79 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic effects on soil organic matter dynamics and bacterial communities under contrasting soil environments

Researchers compared microplastic effects on soil organic matter dynamics and bacterial communities across contrasting soil environments, finding that the type of microplastic polymer and soil conditions together determine whether microbial activity and carbon cycling are stimulated or suppressed.

2024
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

Impacts of biodegradable microplastics on rhizosphere bacterial communities of Arabidopsis thaliana: Insights into root hair-dependent colonization

Researchers investigated how biodegradable microplastics from PBAT plastic affect the bacterial communities around plant roots, using two genotypes of Arabidopsis with different root hair lengths. They found that longer root hairs promoted greater bacterial colonization and diversity, and that biodegradable microplastics boosted enzyme activity and shifted bacterial community composition in the root zone. The findings suggest that the effects of biodegradable microplastics on soil health depend on plant root characteristics.

2025 Environmental Research 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of biodegradable and non-biodegradable microplastics on bacterial community and PAHs natural attenuation in agricultural soils

Researchers found that biodegradable and non-biodegradable microplastics differently affect soil bacterial communities and the natural attenuation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in agricultural soils, with biodegradable plastics sometimes enhancing microbial activity while conventional plastics inhibited PAH degradation.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 55 citations
Article Tier 2

Nonlinear microbial nutrient limitation responses to biodegradable vs. conventional microplastics under long-term agricultural management

Researchers sampled long-term agricultural plots to compare how biodegradable and conventional microplastics affect microbial nutrient limitation in soil. Both types of MPs altered microbial metabolism, with biodegradable MPs in some cases causing greater disruption to nutrient cycling than conventional plastics.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials
Article Tier 2

Rhizosphere microbial activities in response to combined effects of drought and microplastic

Researchers studied how combined drought stress and microplastic contamination affect rhizosphere microbial activities, finding that microplastics exacerbated drought-induced suppression of soil enzyme activities and altered microbial community structure around plant roots.

2024
Article Tier 2

Microplastics increase soil microbial network complexity and trigger diversity-driven community assembly

Researchers found that microplastics in soil increased bacterial network complexity and shifted microbial community assembly in a diversity-dependent manner, with high-density polyethylene causing more harm to plant growth than polystyrene or polylactic acid particles.

2023 Environmental Pollution 49 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2022 Biology and Fertility of Soils 61 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2025 Environmental Research 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Insights into soil microbial assemblages and nitrogen cycling function responses to conventional and biodegradable microplastics

Researchers compared how biodegradable polylactic acid and conventional PVC microplastics affect soil bacteria and nitrogen cycling processes. They found that both types of microplastics altered microbial communities, but biodegradable plastics had distinct effects on nitrogen-processing bacteria and did not simply behave as a harmless alternative. The study suggests that switching to biodegradable plastics may change rather than eliminate the impact of microplastic contamination on soil health.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Living in the plastic age - Different short-term microbial response to microplastics addition to arable soils with contrasting soil organic matter content and farm management legacy

Adding polyethylene or polypropylene microplastics to two agricultural soils did not severely disrupt overall microbial activity or nitrogen cycling, but polypropylene reduced microbial biomass, especially in the organically managed soil. The results suggest that soil management history influences how resilient soil microbiomes are to microplastic contamination.

2020 Environmental Pollution 120 citations
Article Tier 2

Bacterial life-history trade-offs under biodegradable and conventional microplastics in cinnamon and lime concretion black soils

Researchers studied how two biodegradable and four conventional microplastics affect bacterial life-history trade-offs in two distinct Chinese soil types, finding that soil type and plastic type together shaped bacterial diversity, community composition, and functional profiles.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials
Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics on soil microbiome: The impacts of polymer type, shape, and concentration

Researchers examined how different microplastic polymer types, shapes, and concentrations affected soil bacterial communities, finding that these physical characteristics induced distinct shifts in soil microbiome composition and diversity.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 215 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2025 Figshare