Abstract
While microplastic impacts on aquatic and agricultural systems are well-documented, their impacts on forest ecosystems remain poorly understood. We assessed how microplastic addition affects rhizosphere soil properties and fine-root traits for ectomycorrhizal (ECM) and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) associations in a mixed temperate forest. In ECM-associated soils, microplastics increased nitrogen availability and nitrate reductase activity but decreased phosphorus and phosphatase activity; AM-associated soils showed the opposite pattern. Morphologically, ECM roots exhibited reduced branching but increased hyphal density and colonization. Conversely, AM roots displayed increased specific root length and tip density but decreased cortical thickness and tissue density. These divergent, mycorrhizal-specific responses suggest that increasing microplastic pollution may fundamentally alter nutrient cycling and species composition dynamics in temperate forests.
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The data utilized in this study are accessible from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17538924.
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This work was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 42171051).
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Yingtong Zhou: data curation and writing-original draft preparation. Ivano Brunner: writing-reviewing and editing. Ziping Liu: conceptualization and visualization. Wei Guo: software and validation. Xiaoyue Na: data curation and formal analysis. Jiaxin Liu: investigation and visualization. Junni Wang: investigation and methodology. Cunguo Wang: funding acquisition, supervision, writing-reviewing and editing. Mai-He Li: supervision, writing-reviewing and editing.
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Zhou, Y., Brunner, I., Liu, Z. et al. Mycorrhizal-specific responses of rhizosphere soil properties and fine-root traits to polystyrene microplastic addition in a temperate mixed forest. Commun Earth Environ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03237-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03237-0
