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Medical facemask waste alters detritus decomposition and fungal communities in a freshwater pond

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Abstract

Plastic pollution is an ongoing issue in freshwater ecosystems, including that generated from the spike in disposable facemask use during the COVID-19 pandemic. The degradation products of such plastic waste, including plastic leachate compounds and generation of microplastics, have the potential to affect freshwater ecosystem structure and function. We investigated the effects of facemask-derived polypropylene particles of different sizes and their leachates on fungal communities and detritus decomposition in a pond. We further investigated effects of the presence of wood shavings, used to represent a naturally-occurring, highly refractory, organic reference material. Over five weeks, leaf litter mass loss and cotton cellulose tensile strength loss were quantified weekly, and fungal biomass, community composition, and functional gene abundance at two time points. Wood shavings reduced leaf decomposition (-4.4%) relative to controls, while plastics increased decomposition of labile cotton cellulose (+ 6.6%), with the strongest effect from unleached microplastics (+ 22.7%). After 21 days, litter-associated fungal biomass was reduced by the presence of wood shavings (-20.1%) and plastics (-8.6%). Fungal communities differed between wood- and control treatments, and varied widely under plastic exposure. Our findings highlight size- and leachate-dependent effects of facemask-derived plastic particles on freshwater fungal communities and ecosystem functions, which largely contrasted with those of wood.

Data availability

Raw sequencing data is deposited in ENA repository with study accession PRJEB101937 for short read raw sequences ([https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/view/PRJEB101937](https:/www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/view/PRJEB101937)) and PRJEB101937 for long read raw sequences ([https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/view/PRJEB101937](https:/www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/view/PRJEB101937)). Other data generated and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

Detailed bioinformatics workflows or commands, scripts and parameters can be found in the GitHub repository: (https://github.com/abu85/shotgun_metagenomic_data_analysis).

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge support of the National Genomics Infrastructure (NGI)/Uppsala Genome Centre and UPPMAX for providing assistance in massive parallel sequencing and computational infrastructure. Work performed at NGI/Uppsala Genome Centre has been funded by RFI/VR and Science for Life Laboratory, Sweden. The authors also would like to acknowledge SLUBI (SLUs bioinformatics infrastructure) for Bioinformatic support.

Funding

Open access funding provided by Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. This research was funded by grant NV-03728–17 (awarded to BGM, MB, MNF), from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

    Ze Hui Kong, Martina Stangl, Svante Rehnstam, Martyn Futter & Brendan G. Mckie

  2. Tvärminne Zoological Station, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Hanko, Finland

    Ze Hui Kong

  3. Department of Environment and Biodiversity, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

    Martina Stangl

  4. Institute of Microbiology, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, Mendrisio, Switzerland

    Rebecca Oester

  5. Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Rebecca Oester

  6. Department of Aquatic Ecology, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland

    Rebecca Oester

  7. Department of Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

    Abu Bakar Siddique

  8. Institute for Environmental Sciences, iES Landau, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU), Landau, Germany

    Mirco Bundschuh

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  1. Ze Hui Kong
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Contributions

Z.H.K., B.G.M., M.F., M.B. designed the project. B.G.M., M.F. and M.B. provided funding. M.S. and Z.H.K. collected the samples. M.S. performed measurement of leaf litter decomposition and cotton tensile strength loss. Z.H.K. performed procedures related to DNA metagenomics. R.O. performed ergosterol analyses. S.R. performed chemical screening of leachates. A.B.S. performed bioinformatic analyses. Z.H.K. performed statistical analysis with inputs from B.G.M. Z.H.K. and M.S. wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and all co-authors edited and approved the final version.

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Correspondence to
Ze Hui Kong.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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No live plant material was involved in leaf litter collection. No protected or endangered species were involved. This study complied with relevant institutional and national guidelines and regulations, as well as the IUCN Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

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Kong, Z.H., Stangl, M., Oester, R. et al. Medical facemask waste alters detritus decomposition and fungal communities in a freshwater pond.
Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-45795-5

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Keywords

  • Leaf litter decomposition
  • Cotton tensile strength loss
  • Aquatic fungi
  • Macroplastic
  • Microplastic
  • Plastic leachates

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