Papers

61,005 results
|
Article Tier 2

Deciphering the Mechanisms Shaping the Plastisphere Microbiota in Soil

Researchers characterized bacterial communities colonizing biodegradable and conventional microplastics in soil, finding that polymer type and biodegradability shaped distinct plastisphere communities, with deterministic processes playing a stronger role in community assembly than in surrounding soil.

2022 mSystems 100 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics reduce soil microbial network complexity and ecological deterministic selection

Researchers found that microplastics reduce soil microbial network complexity and shift community assembly from deterministic to more stochastic processes, suggesting that microplastic pollution may fundamentally alter microbial ecological interactions in terrestrial systems.

2022 Environmental Microbiology 106 citations
Article Tier 2

The SpatiotemporalSuccessions of Bacterial and FungalPlastisphere Communities and Their Effects on Microplastic Degradationin Soil Ecosystems

Researchers explored spatiotemporal succession of bacterial and fungal plastisphere communities on three microplastic types across three soil types over multiple time periods, finding that colonization environment was the dominant driver of plastisphere microbiome assembly, followed by polymer type and incubation time.

2025 Figshare
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

Biodegradable microplastics enhance soil microbial network complexity and ecological stochasticity

Researchers found that biodegradable microplastics increased soil microbial network complexity and shifted community assembly toward more stochastic processes, suggesting they reshape soil ecosystems differently than conventional plastics.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 189 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

Contribution of stochastic processes to the microbial community assembly on field‐collected microplastics

Researchers found that stochastic processes played a greater role than deterministic factors in shaping bacterial community assembly on field-collected microplastics in the Hangzhou Bay estuary, challenging assumptions about the distinctiveness of the plastisphere.

2021 Environmental Microbiology 120 citations
Article Tier 2

Soil plastisphere: Exploration methods, influencing factors, and ecological insights

This review explored the soil plastisphere, examining how microplastics serve as substrates for microbial colonization in terrestrial ecosystems, and identified key factors influencing plastisphere formation, composition, and ecological functions in soil environments.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 125 citations
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

Niche vs. habitat: Insights of aging microplastics and wetland types on bacterial community assembly

Researchers studied how bacterial communities assemble on microplastic surfaces (plastispheres) versus surrounding soil in three types of wetlands using low-density polyethylene. They found that wetland habitat type had a stronger influence on bacterial diversity patterns than whether the plastic was virgin or aged, with plastisphere communities showing lower diversity and more stochastic assembly compared to soil communities.

2025 Journal of Environmental Sciences 2 citations
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

Distinct spatiotemporal succession of bacterial generalists and specialists in the lacustrine plastisphere

A study of lacustrine plastisphere bacteria found that generalist species were initially more abundant than specialists on colonizing microplastics but declined over time, with deterministic processes driving generalist assembly and stochastic processes driving specialist assembly.

2023 Environmental Microbiology 19 citations
Article Tier 2

Soil pH has a stronger effect than arsenic content on shaping plastisphere bacterial communities in soil

Soil pH had a stronger influence than arsenic contamination on shaping the bacterial communities colonizing microplastic surfaces (plastisphere) in contaminated soils, highlighting pH as a key driver of plastisphere ecology.

2021 Environmental Pollution 72 citations
Article Tier 2

Year-Long Microbial Succession on Microplastics in Wastewater: Chaotic Dynamics Outweigh Preferential Growth

Researchers conducted a year-long study of microbial succession on microplastics in a wastewater treatment plant, finding that chaotic community dynamics outweigh any preferential colonization by plastic-specific microorganisms, challenging the concept of a consistent plastisphere microbiome.

2022 Microorganisms 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Edaphic Gradients Reshape Microbial Microenclaves Assembly within Plastispheres

Researchers sampled microplastics and surrounding soils at 27 urban wetland sites in China to study how bacteria colonize plastic surfaces, forming communities known as plastispheres. They found that plastispheres selectively recruit soil bacteria but harbor only 52-69% of the bacterial diversity found in adjacent soil. The study reveals that soil nutrient levels and moisture conditions strongly influence how these microplastic-associated microbial communities assemble.

2026 Environmental Science & Technology
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
Article Tier 2

Microplastics negatively affect soil fauna but stimulate microbial activity: insights from a field-based microplastic addition experiment

A meta-analysis of microplastic studies found that microplastics negatively affect soil fauna abundance and diversity while stimulating soil microbial activity, based on data from multiple laboratory experiments. The opposing effects on fauna and microbes suggest that microplastics can shift soil community structure in ways that alter ecosystem functions like decomposition and nutrient cycling.

2020 Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences 196 citations
Article Tier 2

The structure and assembly mechanisms of plastisphere microbial community in natural marine environment

Researchers investigated how microbial communities colonize different types of microplastic surfaces in natural marine environments over an eight-week period. They found that the composition of these plastic-associated microbial communities, known as the plastisphere, was shaped more by environmental conditions and time than by the specific type of plastic. The study provides new understanding of the ecological processes governing how microorganisms assemble on ocean plastic debris.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 227 citations
Article Tier 2

Analysis of 16S rRNA amplicon data illuminates the major role of environment in determining the marine plastisphere microbial communities

Researchers analysed 16S rRNA amplicon data from marine plastisphere communities, finding that environmental factors play the dominant role in determining the microbial communities that colonise microplastic surfaces in marine ecosystems.

2024
Article Tier 2

Dynamics of the plastisphere microbiome in agricultural soils under changing climatic conditions

Researchers monitored the microbial communities colonizing biodegradable (PBS, PBAT) and conventional polyethylene plastics buried in agricultural soils over one year under organic vs. conventional farming and current vs. projected climate conditions, finding that farming practice shaped the plastisphere microbiome more than climate, with early colonization dominated by genera known to degrade plastics.

2026 Journal of Hazardous Materials
Article Tier 2

Microplastics shape microbial communities affecting soil organic matter decomposition in paddy soil

Researchers found that microplastics shape soil microbial communities in paddy soils in ways that affect organic matter decomposition, revealing how bacterial succession and carbon cycling are altered by microplastic presence in agricultural systems.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 181 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in soil induce a new microbial habitat, with consequences for bulk soil microbiomes

Polypropylene and expanded polystyrene granules introduced into arable soil created distinct new microbial habitats with higher bacterial community complexity than bulk soil, and their presence also increased microbial diversity in the surrounding soil after 8 weeks. The findings suggest microplastics act as ecological islands that reshape soil microbiome composition.

2022 Frontiers in Environmental Science 56 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
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