Faculty of Geography, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China.
Faculty of Geography, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, Beijing 100012, China.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2024 Sep 15;283:116844. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2024.116844. Epub 2024 Aug 10.
Microplastics, as emerging contaminants, pose a serious threat to terrestrial ecosystems, yet their impact on plant communities remains largely unexplored. This study utilized the soil seed bank to establish naturally germinated plant communities and investigated the effects of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) on community characteristics. Additionally, the study aimed to elucidate the mechanisms by which variations in soil properties influenced plant community. The results indicated that microplastics led to a significant increase in soil available potassium (AK), likely due to alterations in soil microorganism proliferation. Furthermore, microplastics caused a decrease in soil salinity, total phosphorus (TP), and ammonium nitrogen (AN). Additionally, plant community composition shifted, resulting in reduced stability and niche breadth of dominant species. Microplastics also impacted niche overlap and interspecific associations among dominant species, possibly due to the reduced accessibility of resources for dominant species. Salinity, AK, and TP were identified as major drivers of changes in niche breadth, niche overlap, and community stability, with TP exerting the strongest impact on plant community composition. These findings provide valuable insights for the restoration of plant communities in coastal saline-alkali wetland contaminated by microplastics.
微塑料作为新兴污染物，对陆地生态系统构成了严重威胁，但它们对植物群落的影响在很大程度上仍未得到探索。本研究利用土壤种子库建立了自然萌发的植物群落，并调查了聚乙烯（PE）和聚丙烯（PP）对群落特征的影响。此外，本研究旨在阐明土壤性质变化影响植物群落的机制。结果表明，微塑料导致土壤有效钾（AK）显著增加，这可能是由于土壤微生物繁殖的改变。此外，微塑料导致土壤盐分、总磷（TP）和铵态氮（AN）降低。此外，植物群落组成发生了变化，导致优势种的稳定性和生态位宽度降低。微塑料还影响了优势种之间的生态位重叠和种间关联，这可能是由于优势种的资源可及性降低所致。盐分、AK 和 TP 被确定为生态位宽度、生态位重叠和群落稳定性变化的主要驱动因素，其中 TP 对植物群落组成的影响最大。这些发现为受微塑料污染的沿海盐碱湿地植物群落的恢复提供了有价值的见解。
