Summary Struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate‐MgNH4PO4·6H2O), which can extensively crystallize in wastewater treatments, is a potential source of N and P as fertilizer, as well as a means of P conservation. However, little is known of microbial interactions with struvite which would result in element release. In this work, the geoactive fungus Aspergillus niger was investigated for struvite transformation on solid and in liquid media. Aspergillus niger was capable of solubilizing natural (fragments and powder) and synthetic struvite when incorporated into solid medium, with accompanying acidification of the media, and extensive precipitation of magnesium oxalate dihydrate (glushinskite, Mg(C2O4).2H2O) occurring under growing colonies. In liquid media, A. niger was able to solubilize natural and synthetic struvite releasing mobile phosphate (PO43−) and magnesium (Mg2+), the latter reacting with excreted oxalate resulting in precipitation of magnesium oxalate dihydrate which also accumulated within the mycelial pellets. Struvite was also found to influence the morphology of A. niger mycelial pellets. These findings contribute further understanding of struvite solubilization, element release and secondary oxalate formation, relevant to the biogeochemical cycling of phosphate minerals, and further directions utilizing these mechanisms in environmental biotechnologies such as element biorecovery and biofertilizer applications.

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Laboratory microcosms were designed to investigate the chronic influence of sedimental submicrometer plastics (sMPs) on the growth of an aquatic submerged plant, Vallisneria denseserrulata, and the involved microbiological processes. A dose− response experiment (0−1000 μg/g) showed that the growth of V. denseserrulata was not affected by 8-week exposure to sedimental sMPs (100 and 1000 nm) until the dose reached 1000 μg/g (i.e., 0.1% w/w) in wet sediment. The observed-effect dosage of 0.1% w/w sMPs significantly suppressed the plant height and biomass of V. denseserrulata by 19.19−22.26% and 10.81−15.80%, respectively. Changes in rhizosphere microbial community structure were detected under the observed-effect dosage, with relatively higher community diversity and weaker conflicting interaction. Sedimental sMPs decreased the stochasticity ratio of rhizosphere microbial community assembly by 11.0−27.7% compared with the control group. Furthermore, functional analysis showed that the ecological processes related to the carbon and nitrogen cycle were suppressed at the observed-effect dosage, among which phototrophy, nitrogen fixation, and nitrate reduction were significantly decreased by 68.30%, 23.56%, and 17.59%, respectively. Our results revealed the responses of an aquatic plant to sedimental sMPs exposures, and the adverse impacts of sMPs were associated with the ecological assembly processes of the rhizosphere microbial community.

The assembly processes of generalists and specialists and their driving mechanisms during spatiotemporal succession is a central issue in microbial ecology but a poorly researched subject in the plastisphere. We investigated the composition variation, spatiotemporal succession, and assembly processes of bacterial generalists and specialists in the plastisphere, including non‐biodegradable (NBMPs) and biodegradable microplastics (BMPs). Although the composition of generalists and specialists on NBMPs differed from that of BMPs, colonization time mainly mediated the composition variation. The relative abundance of generalists and the relative contribution of species replacement were initially increased and then decreased with colonization time, while the specialists initially decreased and then increased. Besides, the richness differences also affected the composition variation of generalists and specialists in the plastisphere, and the generalists were more susceptible to richness differences than corresponding specialists. Furthermore, the assembly of generalists in the plastisphere was dominated by deterministic processes, while stochastic processes dominated the assembly of specialists. The network stability test showed that the community stability of generalists on NBMPs and BMPs was lower than corresponding specialists. Our results suggested that different ecological assembly processes shaped the spatiotemporal succession of bacterial generalists and specialists in the plastisphere, but were less influenced by polymer types.