The composition, biotic network, and assembly of plastisphere protistan taxonomic and functional communities in plastic-mulching croplands

The increasing use of plastic film mulching has caused the accumulation of plastic film residue in soil. To date, most researches on the plastisphere have focused on bacterial and fungal communities, with few on protistan community, especially in terrestrial ecosystems. To understand plastisphere protistan communities, we collected plastic film residues from plastic-mulching croplands. The plastisphere significantly altered the alpha-diversity, structure, and composition of taxonomic and functional (consumers, phototrophs, and parasites) communities. In both the plastisphere and surrounding soil, although some consumers dominated the protistan community network, while their performance was weakened by mulch application. The ecological networks of the plastisphere community presented higher modularity, less complexity, and a lower proportion of positive connections than the networks of surrounding soil. In addition, the enriched plant pathogens (e.g., Spongospora) and keystone taxa classified as plant pathogens (e.g., Pythium) in the plastisphere imply that plastic film residues may pose a risk to soil health and plant performance. Neutral-based processes dominated the assembly of the plastisphere protistan communities, whereas niche-based processes governed the protistan community assembly of surrounding soil. This study reveals that plastic film residues generate a unique niche for protistan colonization, which disturbs protistan communities and threatens agricultural ecosystem health and function.