EFFECTS OF MICROPLASTICS AND DROUGHT ON SOIL ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS AND MULTIFUNCTIONALITY

 

Microplastics in soils have become an important threat for terrestrial systems as they may potentially alter the geochemical/biophysical soil environment and can interact with drought. As microplastics may affect soil water content, this could exacerbate the well-known negative effects of drought on ecosystem functionality. Thus, functions including litter decomposition, soil aggregation or those related with nutrient cycling can be altered. Despite this potential interaction, we know relatively little about how microplastics, under different soil water conditions, affect ecosystem functions and multifunctionality.

To address this gap, we performed an experiment using grassland plant communities growing in microcosms. Microplastic fibers (absent, present) and soil water conditions (well-watered, drought), were applied in a fully factorial design. At harvest, we measured soil ecosystem functions related to nutrient cycling (ß-glucosaminidase, ß-D-cellobiosidase, phosp...