Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
Volume 245, Issue -, Pages 829-835Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.11.044
Keywords
Glyphosate transport; Microplastics; Earthworm burrows; Soil ecosystem
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41877072]
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [Z109021717]
- State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, China [A314021402-1702]
- EU Horizon 2020 project [ISQAPER: 635750]
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The accumulation of plastic debris and herbicide residues has become a huge challenge and poses many potential risks to environmental health and soil quality. In the present study, we investigated the transport of glyphosate and its main metabolite, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) via earthworms in the presence of different concentrations of light density polyethylene microplastics in the litter layer during a 14-day mesocosm experiment. The results showed earthworm gallery weight was negatively affected by the combination of glyphosate and microplastics. Glyphosate and AMPA concentrated in the first centimetre of the top soil layer and the downward transport of glyphosate and AMPA was only detected in the earthworm burrows, ranging from 0.04 to 4.25 mu g g(-1) for glyphosate and from 0.01 (less than limit of detection) to 0.76 mu g g(-1) for AMPA. The transport rate of glyphosate (including AMPA) from the litter layer into earthworm burrows ranged from 6.6 +/- 4.6% to 183 +/- 2.4%, depending on synergetic effects of microplastics and glyphosate application. The findings imply that earthworm activities strongly influence pollutant movement into the soil, which potentially affects soil ecosystems. Further studies focused on the fate of pollutants in the microenvironment of earthworm burrows are needed. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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