Microplastic pollution alters forest soil microbiome

Ee Ling Ng; Silk Yu Lin; Ashley M Dungan; John M Colwell; Sarah Ede; Esperanza Huerta Lwanga; Ke Meng; Violette Geissen; Linda Louise Blackall; Deli Chen

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124606

Microplastic pollution alters forest soil microbiome

J Hazard Mater. 2021 May 5:409:124606. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124606. Epub 2020 Nov 18.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Food and Agriculture, The University of Melbourne, 3010 Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: eeling.ng@unimelb.edu.au.
² School of Food and Agriculture, The University of Melbourne, 3010 Victoria, Australia.
³ School of Biosciences, The University of Melbourne, 3010 Victoria, Australia.
⁴ School of Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland, 4072 St Lucia, Australia.
⁵ Centre for Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology, 4000 Brisbane, Australia; School of Chemistry and Physics, Queensland University of Technology, 4000 Brisbane, Australia.
⁶ Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, 6708PB Wageningen, The Netherlands; Agroecologia, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Unidad Campeche Av Polígono s/n, Cd. Industrial, Lerma, Campeche, Mexico.
⁷ Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, 6708PB Wageningen, The Netherlands.

PMID: 33246819
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124606

Abstract

The impact of microplastic pollution on terrestrial biota is an emerging research area, and this is particularly so for soil biota. In this study, we addressed this knowledge gap by examining the impact of aged low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and polyester fibres (i.e. polyethylene terephthalate, PET) on a forest microbiome composition and activity. We also measured the corresponding physicochemical changes in the soil. We observed that bacteria community composition diverged in PET and LDPE treated soils from that of the control by day 42. These changes occurred at 0.2% and 0.4% (w/w) of PET and at 3% LDPE. Additionally, soil respiration was 8-fold higher in soil that received 3% LDPE compared to other treatments and control. There were no clear patterns linking these biological changes to physicochemical changes measured. Taken together, we concluded that microplastics aging in the environment may have evolutionary consequences for forest soil microbiome and there is immediate implication for climate change if the observed increase in soil respiration is reproducible in multiple ecosystems.

Keywords: Low-density polyethylene; Polyester fibres; Polyethylene terephthalate; Soil bacteria composition; Soil physical properties; Soil respiration.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Ecosystem
Forests
Microbiota*
Microplastics
Plastics / toxicity
Soil
Soil Pollutants* / analysis
Soil Pollutants* / toxicity

Substances

Microplastics
Plastics
Soil
Soil Pollutants