Abstract

Tire wear particles (TWP) have caused widespread contamination in the environment. However, their behavior and potential impacts in soil remain unclear since studies have so far been mainly conducted in aquatic ecosystems. It is possible that soil ecosystems are already under pressure from pollution by TWP. We here firstly synthesize knowledge about the composition, distribution, and behavior of TWP in soils. By comparing with effects of microplastics (MP) in soil, we further outline several potential impacts of TWP on soil biota and the underpinning mechanisms, and highlight the multiple pathways leading to adverse impacts of TWP on soil microbiota, soil fauna and plants. Furthermore, current knowledge about the effects of TWP is mostly based on single soil microbial species, which may underestimate the effects because of cascading consequences at the community and ecosystem levels. Therefore, more research is urgently needed to clarify the behavior and impacts of TWP from the individual organism to the Earth system level. We suggest that TWP may lead to changes in essential ecosystem services and multifunctionality, and therefore represent an emerging threat to soil health.

摘要

轮胎磨损颗粒 (TWP) 已对环境造成广泛污染。然而，它们在土壤中的行为和潜在影响仍不清楚，因为迄今为止的研究主要是在水生生态系统中进行的。土壤生态系统可能已经受到 TWP 污染的压力。我们在这里首先综合了有关土壤中 TWP 的组成、分布和行为的知识。通过比较微塑料 (MP) 在土壤中的影响，我们进一步概述了 TWP 对土壤生物群的几种潜在影响和支撑机制，并强调了导致 TWP 对土壤微生物群、土壤动物和植物产生不利影响的多种途径。此外，目前关于 TWP 影响的知识主要基于单一的土壤微生物物种，由于社区和生态系统层面的级联后果，这可能低估了影响。因此，迫切需要更多的研究来阐明TWP从个体生物体到地球系统层面的行为和影响。我们认为 TWP 可能会导致基本生态系统服务和多功能性发生变化，因此代表了对土壤健康的新威胁。