Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics on the structure and function of bacterial communities in sediments of a freshwater lake

Researchers examined how microplastics alter the structure and function of bacterial communities in sediments, finding that plastic exposure shifted community composition and reduced overall diversity compared to plastic-free controls. Functional analysis showed impaired denitrification and organic matter decomposition in microplastic-contaminated sediments, indicating ecosystem-level consequences for nutrient cycling.

2024 Chemosphere 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Sediment bacterial and fungal communities exhibit distinct responses to microplastic types and sizes in Taihu lake

Researchers conducted microcosm experiments to study how polystyrene and polyethylene microplastics of different sizes affect sediment bacterial and fungal communities in Taihu Lake over 60 days. They found that microplastics reduced microbial diversity and significantly altered community structures, with particle size being the most influential factor. The study suggests that microplastic pollution in lake sediments may disrupt natural biogeochemical processes by shifting microbial community composition and network complexity.

2023 Environmental Pollution 29 citations
Article Tier 2

Non-synergistic effects of microplastics and submerged macrophytes on sediment microorganisms involved in carbon and nitrogen cycling

This study used genomic analysis to look at how polystyrene microplastics and aquatic plants (submerged macrophytes) together influence the microbial communities in lake sediments that control nutrient cycling. Rather than amplifying each other's effects, the two factors acted independently — microplastics increased microbial diversity while the plants shaped which metabolic functions dominated. The finding suggests that the ecological impact of microplastics in lakes cannot be predicted by looking at microplastics alone, without accounting for the vegetation already present.

2025 Environmental Pollution 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Comparative analysis of microplastic and microbial communities in varied aquatic environments: Disparities in occurrence, interconnections, and ecological implications

Comparative surveys of microplastics and associated microbial communities across river, reservoir, and bay environments in the Dongjiang watershed found that MP abundance and microbial community composition differed significantly by water type, with MP surfaces hosting distinct microbial assemblages.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics on bacterial communities in lake wetland sediments: a comparison between drought and flooded conditions

Researchers established a sediment microcosm system for Poyang Lake wetland and examined the effects of polyethylene and polypropylene microplastics on bacterial community structure, functional genes, and ecological processes over 180 days under both simulated drought and flooded conditions.

2025 Journal of Environmental Management
Article Tier 2

Water Bacterial and Fungal Community Compositions Associated with Urban Lakes, Xi’an, China

Bacterial and fungal communities in urban lakes in Xi'an, China were characterized, revealing diverse microbial assemblages influenced by nutrient levels and land use in the surrounding watershed. Understanding the microbial ecology of urban lakes provides context for how microplastic-associated microbial communities might interact with existing water quality challenges.

2018 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 54 citations
Article Tier 2

Ecological effects of microplastics on microorganism characteristics in sediments of the Daihai Lakeshore, China

Researchers investigated the ecological effects of microplastics on sediment microorganisms along the Daihai Lakeshore in China, using Pearson correlation analysis and KEGG functional pathway analysis to link microplastic characteristics to microbial community structure. They found that small microplastic particles under 0.5 mm and sediment physicochemical properties were positively correlated with dominant microorganism abundance, and that higher microplastic contamination was associated with elevated DNA repair-related metabolic pathways.

2022 Journal of Freshwater Ecology 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Uniqueness and Dependence of Bacterial Communities on Microplastics: Comparison with Water, Sediment, and Soil

Researchers compared bacterial communities on microplastics with those in water, sediment, and soil in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, finding that microplastic-associated communities are unique in composition and ecological function compared to surrounding environments.

2021 Microbial Ecology 38 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic distribution in large shallow lake sediments: Variations with offshore distance and implications for microbial communities

Researchers analyzed microplastic distribution in sediments of Taihu Lake at varying distances from shore and examined the effects on microbial communities. They found that microplastic abundance decreased with increasing distance from the shoreline, ranging from 240 to 1,120 items per kilogram. The study suggests that microplastic contamination in lake sediments can significantly alter the composition and diversity of local microbial communities.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Bacterial community structure of water, sediment and microplastics in Poyang Lake wetland.

This study compared the bacterial communities living on four types of microplastics (film, foam, fiber, and fragment) in Poyang Lake wetland in China against the bacterial communities in the surrounding water and sediment. The microplastic surfaces hosted distinct microbial communities that differed from both the water and sediment, with foam microplastics supporting the least diverse communities. This "plastisphere" research is important because the unique bacteria colonizing plastic surfaces could spread pathogens or alter nutrient cycles in freshwater wetland ecosystems.

2023 PubMed
Article Tier 2

Characterizing Microplastic Pollution and Microbial Community Status in Rice Paddy Soils Across Varied Environmental Settings in Songjiang, Shanghai: An Analysis of Morpho-Chemical Characteristics

Researchers characterized microplastic pollution and associated microbial communities in rice paddy soils, finding widespread microplastic contamination that correlated with shifts in soil bacterial diversity. Plastic-associated microbial communities differed from bulk soil communities, suggesting microplastics create distinct microbial niches in agricultural environments.

2024 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology (IJISRT) 1 citations
Article Tier 2

[Response of Relationship Between Microplastic Abundance and Nitrogen Metabolism Function Microorganisms and Genes in Water].

Researchers investigated the relationship between microplastic abundance and nitrogen-metabolizing microorganisms and genes in Lake Ulansuhai using microscopy and metagenomic sequencing, finding that microplastics in freshwater environments significantly influenced the composition and activity of nitrogen metabolism functional bacteria and associated genes.

2024 PubMed 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Complex microplastics significantly influence the assembly process of lake bacterial communities

Researchers examined how complex environmental microplastics -- varying in abundance, shape, size, color, and polymer type -- influence bacterial community assembly in water and sediments of Taihu Lake, China. Microplastics were associated with shifts in bacterial community composition and assembly processes, with distinct communities forming on plastic surfaces compared to surrounding lake water and sediments.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Exploring the response of bacterial community functions to microplastic features in lake ecosystems through interpretable machine learning

Researchers used machine learning models to investigate how different characteristics of microplastics affect bacterial communities in lake ecosystems. They found that the color, shape, and polymer type of microplastics all influenced bacterial functions related to carbon and nitrogen cycling and human health. The study suggests that specific microplastic features, such as yellow coloring and PET polymer type, have distinct impacts on microbial communities in freshwater environments.

2025 Environmental Research 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics Increase the Risk of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Water Pollution in a Freshwater Lake by Affecting Microbial Function in Biogenic Element Cycling: A Metagenomic Study

Researchers used metagenomic analysis to examine how microplastics affect microbial community function in a freshwater lake, finding that microplastic contamination disrupts biogenic element cycling processes and increases the risk of greenhouse gas emissions and water quality degradation.

2024
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

Effects of Microplastics on Microbial Community in Zhanjiang Mangrove Sediments

Researchers found that microplastics in mangrove sediments from Zhanjiang, China, altered the diversity and composition of microbial communities and may affect nitrogen cycling processes such as nitrification.

2022 Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 31 citations
Article Tier 2

Disentangling the Impacts of PAHs, Microplastics, and Sediment Resuspension on Algal Physiology: A Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Researchers used statistical modeling to separate the individual and combined effects of microplastics, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and sediment disturbance on algae health. They found that PAHs had the strongest direct negative effect on algal physiology, while microplastics primarily acted indirectly by influencing how other stressors were distributed. The study demonstrates the importance of studying pollutants in combination rather than isolation to understand real-world ecological impacts.

2025 ACS Environmental Au 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Rapid urbanization affects microplastic communities in lake sediments: A case study of Lake Aha in southwest China

Researchers investigated how rapid urbanization affects microplastic communities in Lake Aha sediments in southwest China, using sediment core slicing to reveal that urbanization significantly increased microplastic abundance and altered polymer composition over time.

2023 Journal of Environmental Management 43 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of microplastics on microbial community in sediments of the Huangjinxia Reservoir—water source of a water diversion project in western China

Researchers examined microplastic contamination and its effects on microbial communities in sediments of the Huangjinxia Reservoir in western China, investigating how microplastic presence alters the composition and function of microbial assemblages in this drinking water source.

2020 Chemosphere 97 citations
Article Tier 2

[Distribution Characteristics of Microplastic Surface Bacterial Communities Under Flooded and Non-flooded Conditions in Nanjishan Wetland of Poyang Lake].

A 16S sequencing study of bacterial communities in the Poyang Lake wetland found that microbial diversity on microplastic surfaces was lower than in surrounding sediment and water, with the microplastic biofilm community shifting between sediment-like (non-flooded) and water-like (flooded) profiles depending on water level. The plastisphere communities were dominated by distinct bacterial genera including elevated Proteobacteria, suggesting that microplastics select for specific microbial assemblages in natural wetland ecosystems.

2023 PubMed
Article Tier 2

Multi-omics-based approach reveals the effects of microplastics on microbial abundance and function of sediments in Shenzhen coastal waters

Researchers used a multi-omics approach combining metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to investigate how microplastic contamination affects microbial community abundance and functional gene expression in coastal sediments from eastern and western Shenzhen, China. They found microplastic concentrations of 119 items per kilogram in eastern sediments and 664 items per kilogram in western sediments, with higher contamination sites showing significant shifts in microbial community composition and altered expression of genes involved in carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur cycling.

2023 Frontiers in Marine Science 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Vertical distribution characteristics of microplastics and bacterial communities in the sediment columns of Jianhu lake in China

Researchers examined microplastic abundance, morphology, and polymer types alongside bacterial community composition in sediment columns (0-60 cm depth) of Jianhu Lake, China, finding microplastic concentrations of 624-3050 particles/kg with rayon, PET, and SBS as dominant polymers, and revealing correlations between microplastic characteristics and bacterial community structure via co-occurrence network analysis.

2024 Environmental Geochemistry and Health
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