The adverse impact of soil microplastics on aggregation is generally attributed to the potential toxicity to soil microorganisms. However, there have been few studies that use sterile soil as a control environment for comparison with regular soils to test this hypothesis. Consequently, this study conducted soil incubation with oven‐heated sterilized soils to explore the effects of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) microplastics (at sizes of 0.595, 0.089, and 0.009 mm) on the soil aggregate stabilities. The aim was to determine if their primary mode of action is through biogenic interactions with soil microorganisms. The microplastics reduced 49% and 82% water‐stable aggregates of 0.5–1 and 1–2 mm fractions in Tianjin soils, respectively. The effects of microplastics were particularly pronounced in the non‐sterilized soils during the initial month of incubation. Additionally, microplastics increased the surface roughness of aggregates by an average of 39%, yet microplastics did not significantly affect the aggregate mechanical stability in either soil type. This study suggests that interactions between soil microplastics and microorganisms work crucially on soil aggregation, but microplastics could also possibly affect soil aggregation through non‐biogenic pathways.

中文翻译：

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微塑料对消毒和非消毒土壤中土壤聚集体的影响


土壤微塑料对聚集体的不利影响通常归因于对土壤微生物的潜在毒性。然而，很少有研究使用无菌土壤作为对照环境与常规土壤进行比较来检验这一假设。因此，本研究与烘箱加热的消毒土壤进行了土壤培养，以探讨聚乙烯 （PE） 和聚丙烯 （PP） 微塑料 （尺寸为 0.595、0.089 和 0.009 mm） 对土壤团聚体稳定性的影响。目的是确定它们的主要作用方式是否是通过与土壤微生物的生物相互作用。微塑料分别减少了天津土壤中 49% 和 82% 的 0.5-1 和 1-2 毫米颗粒的水稳定聚集体。在孵化的最初一个月，微塑料的影响在未消毒的土壤中尤为明显。此外，微塑料使骨料的表面粗糙度平均增加了 39%，但微塑料在这两种土壤类型中都没有显着影响骨料的机械稳定性。这项研究表明，土壤微塑料和微生物之间的相互作用对土壤聚集至关重要，但微塑料也可能通过非生物途径影响土壤聚集。