Impacts of Lead and Nanoplastic Co-Exposure on Decomposition, Microbial Diversity, and Community Assembly Mechanisms in Karst Riverine Miscanthus Litter.

Abstract

Karst rivers are increasingly contaminated by both heavy metals and nanoplastics, yet their combined impact on riparian litter decomposition remains unresolved. We conducted a 90-day microcosm experiment using Miscanthus floridulus leaf litter collected from the Donghe River, Jishou, China, and exposed it to Pb (1 mg L^-1), polystyrene nanoplastics (10 and 100 µg L^-1), and their combinations. Pb alone modestly inhibited mass loss (61.0%) and respiration, while NP10 significantly accelerated decomposition (67.0%), and NP100 suppressed it (60.4%); co-exposure produced non-monotonic, concentration-dependent effects. Enzyme stoichiometry revealed that all treatments intensified nitrogen limitation but alleviated carbon limitation through reduced microbial activity. Bacterial communities, dominated by Pseudomonadota, exhibited remarkably stable phylum-level composition, high network complexity, and identical keystone taxa across all treatments, indicating strong functional redundancy and resilience. In contrast, fungal communities suffered severe declines in Basidiomycota abundance, collapsed network stability, and a single keystone taxon, underscoring their vulnerability. βNTI-RC_bray analyses demonstrated that stochastic processes (>50%) overwhelmingly governed both bacterial and fungal assembly, with only marginal deterministic shifts. Collectively, our findings highlight that bacteria-not fungi-serve as the primary decomposers under Pb-NP co-stress and that stochastic assembly, coupled with bacterial redundancy, buffers ecosystem function against emerging mixed pollutants in subtropical riverine systems.