Papers

20 results
|
Article Tier 2

MicroplasticDiversityas a Potential Driver of SoilDenitrification Shifts

Researchers conducted a microcosm experiment with four levels of microplastic diversity and used metagenomic sequencing to show that increasing microplastic diversity significantly raised soil pH and organic carbon content while driving shifts in denitrification function in soil microbial communities.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Increasing soil microplastic diversity decreases community biomass via its impact on the most dominant species

Researchers experimentally mixed different numbers and types of microplastics into soil hosting six plant species, finding that greater variety of microplastic types in the soil reduced total plant biomass — mainly by suppressing the growth of the dominant grass species. The results suggest that real-world environments contaminated with multiple types of microplastics may suffer greater ecological harm than studies using a single plastic type would predict.

2023 Ecological Indicators 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Polyethylene microplastic and soil nitrogen dynamics: Unraveling the links between functional genes, microbial communities, and transformation processes

Researchers conducted a six-month experiment to understand how polyethylene microplastics in soil affect nitrogen cycling, a process critical for soil fertility and plant nutrition. They found that while total nitrogen levels stayed stable, microplastics significantly altered the forms of nitrogen present by increasing ammonium and nitrate while decreasing dissolved organic nitrogen. The study suggests that microplastics reshape soil microbial communities and their nitrogen-processing activities, potentially disrupting the natural nutrient balance in agricultural soils.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 102 citations
Article Tier 2

Mechanisms of polyethylene microplastics on microbial community assembly and carbon-nitrogen transformation potentials in soils with different textures

Researchers used DNA sequencing to examine how polyethylene microplastics affect soil microbial communities and carbon-nitrogen cycling across soils with different textures. They found that microplastics significantly shifted microbial community composition and altered the abundance of genes involved in carbon and nitrogen transformation, with effects varying by soil type. The study suggests that microplastic contamination may disrupt fundamental nutrient cycling processes differently depending on soil characteristics.

2025 Environmental Research 3 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

Polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride microplastics promote soil nitrification and alter the composition of key nitrogen functional bacterial groups

Researchers found that polyethylene and PVC microplastics in soil increased nitrification (a key step in the nitrogen cycle) and changed the composition of nitrogen-processing bacteria. These changes could affect soil fertility and the availability of nutrients for crops. The study highlights how microplastic contamination in agricultural soil may have hidden effects on food production by altering fundamental soil processes.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 72 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Mixture Diversity Destabilizes Mineral-Associated Carbon via Constraining the Accumulation of Microbial Necromass

Researchers exposed soil to increasing microplastic diversity (1–12 polymer types) and found that greater polymer diversity reduced microbial necromass carbon by up to 9% and mineral-associated organic carbon by up to 11%, suggesting diverse microplastic mixtures pose greater risks to soil carbon sequestration.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology 2 citations
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

Microbes drive metabolism, community diversity, and interactions in response to microplastic-induced nutrient imbalance

Researchers investigated how conventional and biodegradable microplastics alter soil nutrient balances and the resulting effects on microbial metabolism, community diversity, and species interactions. The study found that microplastic-induced nutrient imbalances significantly influenced soil microbial processes, with different types of microplastics producing distinct effects on carbon and nitrogen cycling.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 74 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics drive microbial assembly, their interactions, and metagenomic functions in two soils with distinct pH and heavy metal availability

Researchers investigated how microplastics affect soil microbial communities and their functions in two different soil types, one acidic and one neutral. They found that microplastics altered bacterial and fungal community composition and disrupted genes involved in carbon cycling, nitrogen metabolism, and pollutant degradation, with effects varying between the two soil types. The study reveals that soil characteristics like pH and existing heavy metal contamination play a significant role in determining how microplastics impact underground ecosystems.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 62 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution on the soil and its consequences on the nitrogen cycle: a review

This review examines microplastic pollution impacts on soil nitrogen cycling, finding that microplastics alter soil structure, serve as novel microbial colonization surfaces, and affect the microbial communities responsible for nitrogen fixation, nitrification, and denitrification.

2021 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 99 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

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

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

Unveiling the impact of microplastics with distinct polymer types and concentrations on tidal sediment microbiome and nitrogen cycling

Researchers tested how five different types of microplastics at varying concentrations affect microbial communities and nitrogen cycling in tidal sediments over 30 days. They found that microplastics generally reduced microbial diversity and enhanced nitrogen fixation, with biodegradable PLA plastic showing concentration-dependent effects. The study suggests that microplastic contamination in coastal sediments can disrupt important nutrient cycling processes driven by microorganisms.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Interactive effects of soil characteristics and polymer types reveal patterns of denitrifying bacteria enrichment in the soil plastisphere

A field study examined how soil characteristics (texture, organic matter, pH) and polymer type interact to determine microplastic persistence and mobility in agricultural soils. The results show that soil properties are as important as plastic type in predicting environmental fate.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Polyethylene microplastics distinctly affect soil microbial community and carbon and nitrogen cycling during plant litter decomposition

Researchers measured how polyethylene microplastics affect soil microbial communities and carbon cycling in agricultural soils, finding that microplastic addition shifted microbial diversity and suppressed key carbon mineralization processes. The results suggest microplastic accumulation in farmland could impair soil carbon storage.

2024 Journal of Environmental Management 7 citations
Article Tier 2

The more microplastic types pollute the soil, the stronger the growth suppression of invasive alien and native plants

Researchers grew 16 plant species in soil contaminated with varying numbers of microplastic types and found that plant growth declined more as the diversity of microplastics increased. Invasive species were particularly affected, losing their typical growth advantage over native plants when exposed to multiple microplastic types. The study suggests that real-world soil contamination, which typically involves a mix of different plastics, may suppress plant growth more than single-plastic experiments have shown.

2024 Journal of Ecology 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic induces microbial nitrogen limitation further alters microbial nitrogentransformation: Insights from metagenomic analysis

Researchers studied how both conventional and biodegradable microplastics affect nitrogen cycling in soil over 120 days. They found that biodegradable microplastics significantly disrupted microbial nitrogen processes by acting as a carbon source that shifted bacterial communities toward nitrogen-fixing species. The findings suggest that even biodegradable plastics in soil can alter nutrient availability in ways that may affect soil fertility and plant growth.

2025 The Science of The Total Environment 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Discrepancy strategies of sediment abundant and rare microbial communities in response to floating microplastic disturbances: Study using a microcosmic experiment

Using microcosm experiments with fluvial sediment exposed to four plastic types, researchers found that floating microplastics altered sediment microbial diversity and reduced bacteria involved in carbon and nitrogen cycling. Abundant microbial taxa were more sensitive to microplastic disturbance than rare taxa, and microplastics decreased network complexity and increased negative species interactions in microbial communities.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 46 citations