Abstract
Knowledge of the influence of microplastics on soil microbiome and nutrients is important for understanding the ecological consequences of microplastic pollution in terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, we investigated whether polyvinyl chloride (PVC) microplastic pollution at environmentally relevant concentrations would affect soil bacterial community and available nitrogen/phosphorus content. The results showed that although PVC microplastics at 0.1% and 1% levels did not have a significant effect on overall bacterial community diversity and composition in soil over the course of 35 days, a number of bacterial genera were significantly reduced or enriched by the presence of microplastics. Potentially due to their effect on certain functional groups, microplastics caused a significant change in soil available P content. It is noteworthy that, depending on soil type, pollution level and plasticizer presence, contrasting effects of microplastics may be observed. Further research is definitely warranted to gain a clearer picture of the threats posed by microplastic pollution in soil environments.
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19 August 2020
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-020-02963-1
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Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by National Key Research and Development Plan (2018YFC1800602), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20190321), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (21777066 and 41907340).
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Yan, Y., Chen, Z., Zhu, F. et al. Effect of Polyvinyl Chloride Microplastics on Bacterial Community and Nutrient Status in Two Agricultural Soils. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 107, 602–609 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-020-02900-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-020-02900-2