Microplastic occurrence and effects on soil fungi and processes along land use gradients

微塑料的发生及其对土壤真菌和土地利用梯度过程的影响

• 批准号: 432951741
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Matthias C. Rillig, Ph.D.
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Arbeitsgruppe Ökologie der Pflanzen
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/432951741?language=en
• 关键词: Microplastic; occurrence; effects; soil; fungi

We live in a heavily plastic-influenced world, as plastic is ubiquitous in our daily lives. As a consequence, plastic has been found in a wide range of environmental compartments, predominantly as microplastics, that is plastic pieces < 5 mm. After initially having been studied in marine and aquatic systems only, soils have come into focus much more recently in terms of microplastic, with data beginning to show that this may be a rather widespread contaminant of soils, with potential consequences for soil physical, chemical and biological parameters. Given the range of input pathways, which include plastic trash, compost, aerial deposition and roads, there is good reason to assume that microplastics will be present in Biodiversity Exploratory soils. Our research has two main goals: First, we want to know if microplastics (presence and/ or type) can track land use intensity, thus serving as a signature of human intervention and activity. To address this, we will sample soils from all 150 EPs in grassland and assay them for microplastic presence, type and composition using state-of-the-art methods of extraction and identification (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy microscopy). We can then link these data to land use intensity (LUI) or its components, as well as to general soil properties available at the EP-level.Second, we want to test the effects of experimental microplastic addition in the field, along the land use gradient. We will approach this with the deployment and re-sampling (after 1 yr) of small mesh bags containing microplastic- contaminated soil, which will be buried in all VPs in grassland (containing the soil from each VP). The microplastic we will use for this is polyester fibers, which we have previously shown to have clear and consistent effects on soil physical properties and soil processes. Our response variables include fungal-related soil processes (decomposition, soil aggregation) and aspects of soil microbial diversity (fungal communities, assessed by Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing). With our field experiment, we hope to test how microplastic effects differ among soil type and environmental context, as well as land use intensity. All experimental items will be removed from the field, assuring that there is no lasting contamination of Exploratory soils. Given that we will only use one microplastic type in the field, and that microplastic pollution is a multifaceted issue, we will also conduct a small-scale, complementary lab experiment, in which we use just one soil type per Exploratory, but add a range of different microplastic types in addition to microfibers. Overall, this research will yield insights into microplastic abundance and effects in soils, making unique use of the wealth of information available for the Exploratories, while at the same time offering a new response variable of potential interest to other researchers (for example in synthesis projects), but also stakeholders.

我们生活在一个严重受塑料影响的世界里，因为塑料在我们的日常生活中无处不在。因此，在各种环境隔间中都发现了塑料，主要是微塑料，即5毫米厚的塑料件。在最初只在海洋和水生系统中进行研究之后，土壤最近在微塑性方面成为关注的焦点，数据开始表明，这可能是一种相当广泛的土壤污染物，对土壤的物理、化学和生物参数有潜在的影响。考虑到输入途径的范围，包括塑料垃圾、堆肥、空气沉积和道路，有充分的理由认为微塑料将出现在生物多样性勘探土壤中。我们的研究有两个主要目标：首先，我们想知道微塑料(存在和/或类型)是否可以跟踪土地利用强度，从而成为人类干预和活动的标志。为了解决这一问题，我们将从草原上所有150个EP土壤中取样，并使用最先进的提取和鉴定方法(傅立叶变换红外光谱显微镜)分析它们的微塑料存在、类型和组成。然后，我们可以将这些数据与土地利用强度(LUI)或其组成部分，以及EP水平上可用的一般土壤性质联系起来。第二，我们想要测试田间试验微塑料添加的效果，沿着土地利用梯度。我们将通过部署和重新取样(一年后)包含微塑料污染土壤的小网袋来实现这一点，这些土壤将被掩埋在草原的所有VP中(包含每个VP的土壤)。我们将使用的微塑料是聚酯纤维，我们之前已经证明，它对土壤物理性质和土壤过程具有明显和一致的影响。我们的响应变量包括与真菌相关的土壤过程(分解、土壤聚集)和土壤微生物多样性的方面(真菌群落，由Illumina MiSeq高通量测序评估)。通过我们的田间试验，我们希望测试微塑性效应在土壤类型和环境背景以及土地利用强度之间的差异。所有实验项目都将从现场移除，以确保勘探土壤不会受到持久的污染。鉴于我们将在野外只使用一种微塑料类型，并且微塑料污染是一个多方面的问题，我们还将进行一个小规模的补充实验室实验，在每个实验中，我们只使用一种土壤类型，但除了微纤维外，还增加了一系列不同的微塑料类型。总体而言，这项研究将深入了解土壤中微塑料的丰度和影响，独特地利用可供探索实验室使用的丰富信息，同时提供一个其他研究人员(例如合成项目中的研究人员)以及利益相关者可能感兴趣的新的响应变量。