European Spatial Survey (ESS): Effects of microplastics on microbial activity/community

European spatial survey (ESS) comprised sampling of farmed soils along gradients of agricultural plastics (AP) use, soil management, and biogeography. Five European countries (Finland, FI; Spain, ES; Czech Republic, CZ; Norway, NO; Germany, DE) were selected for microbial experiment, and four field conditions were categorized: AP use, application of sewage sludge-derived biosolid, application of compost or digestate products (suspected to be contaminated by plastics), and control fields (no documented history of plastic exposure). We investigated the effects of LDPE-MPs and PBAT-BD-MPs in differret ESS soils, and the distinct responses of microbial activities (β-glucosidase, β-D-1,4-cellobiosidase, β-1,4-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase, and phosphatase) and communities (bacteria and fungi; diversity and relative abundances) were observed in 39 different soils.