Impacts of plastic pollution on soil-plant properties and greenhouse gas emissions in wetlands: A meta-analysis

Plastic pollution in wetlands has recently emerged as an urgent environmental problem. However, the impacts of plastic contamination on soil-plant properties and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in wetlands remain unclear. Thus, this study conducted a meta-analysis based on 44 study sites to explore the influence of plastic pollution on soil physicochemical variables, soil microorganisms, enzyme activity, functional genes, plant characteristics, and GHG emissions (CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O) in different wetland types. Based on the collected dataset, the plastic pollution significantly increased soil organic matter and organic carbon by on average 28.9 % and 34.2 %, respectively, while decreased inorganic nutrient elements, bacteria alpha diversity and enzyme activities by an average of 5.9 -14.2 %. The response of bacterial abundance to plastic pollution varied depending on phylum classes. Plant biomass and photosynthetic efficiency were decreased by an average of 12.8 % and 18.4 % due to plastic pollution. The concentration and exposure time of plastics play a key role in influencing the soil and plant properties in wetlands. Furthermore, plastic exposure notably increased the abundance of the functional genes related to C degradation and the ammonia oxidizing microorganisms, and the consequent CO₂ and N₂O emissions (with effect sizes of 2.10 and 1.94, respectively). We also found that plastic concentrations and exposure duration affected the wetland soil-plant system. Our results might be helpful to design further investigations on plastic effects and develop appropriate measures for mitigating plastic pollution in wetlands.