Warming alters microplastic-induced soil carbon priming across diverse terrestrial ecosystems

Microplastics threaten terrestrial ecosystems, with biodegradable types potentially amplifying soil organic carbon losses through the priming effect. However, the response of microplastic-induced priming effect to global warming across ecosystems remains largely unknown. Here, we collected soils fro...

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Main Authors: Changyi Lu, Yifang Zhang, An-Qi Sun, Ruixia Han, Qing-Lin Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-08-01
Series:Geoderma
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706125002526
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author Changyi Lu
Yifang Zhang
An-Qi Sun
Ruixia Han
Qing-Lin Chen
author_facet Changyi Lu
Yifang Zhang
An-Qi Sun
Ruixia Han
Qing-Lin Chen
author_sort Changyi Lu
collection DOAJ
description Microplastics threaten terrestrial ecosystems, with biodegradable types potentially amplifying soil organic carbon losses through the priming effect. However, the response of microplastic-induced priming effect to global warming across ecosystems remains largely unknown. Here, we collected soils from farmland, grassland, and forest ecosystems across 1200 km in northeastern China, and explored the polybutylene succinate (PBS)-induced priming effect under two temperature conditions (25 ℃ and 29.5 ℃). We found that the input of PBS significantly increased soil CO2 emission irrespective of ecosystem type and temperature, accompanied by an increase lability of soil dissolved organic matter (DOM). At 25°C, PBS induced a positive priming effect across all ecosystems—the strongest in grassland soils, followed by farmland and forest, and this effect was closely linked to changes in soil nitrogen transformation potential and availability. Warming slightly increased the intensity of cumulative priming effect in farmland soils (22–32 %) but significantly decreased it from 19 % to –32 % in forest soils and from 51 % to −21 % in grassland soils. These differences may be attributed to the varying responses of soil DOM chemodiversity to warming, with newly formed DOM molecules increasing in farmland soils after PBS addition but not in forest or grassland soils. Together, these findings advance our understanding of the mechanisms driving microplastic-induced priming effect and provide insights into how microplastic pollution may alter soil carbon cycling under global warming.
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institution DOAJ
issn 1872-6259
language English
publishDate 2025-08-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Geoderma
spelling doaj-art-1e9aaddbd0e24fca93af460dc16f63072025-08-20T03:23:34ZengElsevierGeoderma1872-62592025-08-0146011741410.1016/j.geoderma.2025.117414Warming alters microplastic-induced soil carbon priming across diverse terrestrial ecosystemsChangyi Lu0Yifang Zhang1An-Qi Sun2Ruixia Han3Qing-Lin Chen4State Key Laboratory of Regional and Urban Ecology, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Urban Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, CAS Haixi Industrial Technology Innovation Center in Beilun, Ningbo 315830, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Regional and Urban Ecology, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Urban Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, CAS Haixi Industrial Technology Innovation Center in Beilun, Ningbo 315830, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Regional and Urban Ecology, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Urban Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, CAS Haixi Industrial Technology Innovation Center in Beilun, Ningbo 315830, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Regional and Urban Ecology, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Urban Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, CAS Haixi Industrial Technology Innovation Center in Beilun, Ningbo 315830, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Regional and Urban Ecology, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Urban Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, CAS Haixi Industrial Technology Innovation Center in Beilun, Ningbo 315830, China; Corresponding author at: State Key Laboratory of Regional and Urban Ecology, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China.Microplastics threaten terrestrial ecosystems, with biodegradable types potentially amplifying soil organic carbon losses through the priming effect. However, the response of microplastic-induced priming effect to global warming across ecosystems remains largely unknown. Here, we collected soils from farmland, grassland, and forest ecosystems across 1200 km in northeastern China, and explored the polybutylene succinate (PBS)-induced priming effect under two temperature conditions (25 ℃ and 29.5 ℃). We found that the input of PBS significantly increased soil CO2 emission irrespective of ecosystem type and temperature, accompanied by an increase lability of soil dissolved organic matter (DOM). At 25°C, PBS induced a positive priming effect across all ecosystems—the strongest in grassland soils, followed by farmland and forest, and this effect was closely linked to changes in soil nitrogen transformation potential and availability. Warming slightly increased the intensity of cumulative priming effect in farmland soils (22–32 %) but significantly decreased it from 19 % to –32 % in forest soils and from 51 % to −21 % in grassland soils. These differences may be attributed to the varying responses of soil DOM chemodiversity to warming, with newly formed DOM molecules increasing in farmland soils after PBS addition but not in forest or grassland soils. Together, these findings advance our understanding of the mechanisms driving microplastic-induced priming effect and provide insights into how microplastic pollution may alter soil carbon cycling under global warming.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706125002526Microplastic pollutionGlobal climate changeSoil organic matter decompositionCO2 emissionStable C isotopeDissolved organic matter
spellingShingle Changyi Lu
Yifang Zhang
An-Qi Sun
Ruixia Han
Qing-Lin Chen
Warming alters microplastic-induced soil carbon priming across diverse terrestrial ecosystems
Geoderma
Microplastic pollution
Global climate change
Soil organic matter decomposition
CO2 emission
Stable C isotope
Dissolved organic matter
title Warming alters microplastic-induced soil carbon priming across diverse terrestrial ecosystems
title_full Warming alters microplastic-induced soil carbon priming across diverse terrestrial ecosystems
title_fullStr Warming alters microplastic-induced soil carbon priming across diverse terrestrial ecosystems
title_full_unstemmed Warming alters microplastic-induced soil carbon priming across diverse terrestrial ecosystems
title_short Warming alters microplastic-induced soil carbon priming across diverse terrestrial ecosystems
title_sort warming alters microplastic induced soil carbon priming across diverse terrestrial ecosystems
topic Microplastic pollution
Global climate change
Soil organic matter decomposition
CO2 emission
Stable C isotope
Dissolved organic matter
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706125002526
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AT anqisun warmingaltersmicroplasticinducedsoilcarbonprimingacrossdiverseterrestrialecosystems
AT ruixiahan warmingaltersmicroplasticinducedsoilcarbonprimingacrossdiverseterrestrialecosystems
AT qinglinchen warmingaltersmicroplasticinducedsoilcarbonprimingacrossdiverseterrestrialecosystems