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The soil plastisphere

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 22, pages 64–74 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Understanding the effects of plastic pollution in terrestrial ecosystems is a priority in environmental research. A central aspect of this suite of pollutants is that it entails particles, in addition to chemical compounds, and this makes plastic quite different from the vast majority of chemical environmental pollutants. Particles can be habitats for microbial communities, and plastics can be a source of chemical compounds that are released into the surrounding environment. In the aquatic literature, the term ‘plastisphere’ has been coined to refer to the microbial community colonizing plastic debris; here, we use a definition that also includes the immediate soil environment of these particles to align the definition with other concepts in soil microbiology. First, we highlight major differences in the plastisphere between aquatic and soil ecosystems, then we review what is currently known about the soil plastisphere, including the members of the microbial community that are enriched, and the possible mechanisms underpinning this selection. Then, we focus on outlining future prospects for research on the soil plastisphere.

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Fig. 1: The definition of the soil plastisphere and its place in the context of other soil compartments.
Fig. 2: Overview of the general difference between plastic in aquatic and soil ecosystems.
Fig. 3: The soil plastisphere microbial community differs from that in other soil compartments.
Fig. 4: Progressing our understanding of the soil plastisphere.

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Acknowledgements

M.C.R. acknowledges funding from a European Research Council Advanced Grant and from the European Union projects MINAGRIS and PAPILLIONS, as well as from the BMBF-funded project µPlastic. Y.-G.Z. is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42021005).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Matthias C. Rillig, Shin Woong Kim.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Matthias C. Rillig & Shin Woong Kim

  2. Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, Germany

    Matthias C. Rillig & Shin Woong Kim

  3. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Yong-Guan Zhu

  4. Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, China

    Yong-Guan Zhu

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Nature Reviews Microbiology thanks Linda Amaral-Zettler, Jennifer DeBruyn and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Rillig, M.C., Kim, S.W. & Zhu, YG. The soil plastisphere. Nat Rev Microbiol 22, 64–74 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-023-00967-2

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