Effects of Microplastics in Soil Ecosystems: Above and Below Ground

Boots, Bas; Russell, Connor William; Green, Dannielle S.

doi:10.1021/acs.est.9b03304

Cited by 979 publications

(436 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…[19,20]. However, the growth of earthworms is meaningfully different in soil ecosystems, particularly agricultural land, contaminated with microplastics [21]. In addition, it is noteworthy that microplastics are widespread in naturally-occurring Arctic deep-sea sediments [22] and in snow ranging from the Alps to the Arctic [23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potent Impact of Plastic Nanomaterials and Micromaterials on the Food Chain and Human Health

Wang

Lee

Chiu

et al. 2020

IJMS

138

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Plastic products are inexpensive, convenient, and are have many applications in daily life. We overuse plastic-related products and ineffectively recycle plastic that is difficult to degrade. Plastic debris can be fragmented into smaller pieces by many physical and chemical processes. Plastic debris that is fragmented into microplastics or nanoplastics has unclear effects on organismal systems. Recently, this debris was shown to affect biota and to be gradually spreading through the food chain. In addition, studies have indicated that workers in plastic-related industries develop many kinds of cancer because of chronic exposure to high levels of airborne microplastics. Microplastics and nanoplastics are everywhere now, contaminating our water, air, and food chain. In this review, we introduce a classification of plastic polymers, define microplastics and nanoplastics, identify plastics that contaminate food, describe the damage and diseases caused by microplastics and nanoplastics, and the molecular and cellular mechanisms of this damage and disease as well as solutions for their amelioration. Thus, we expect to contribute to the understanding of the effects of microplastics and nanoplastics on cellular and molecular mechanisms and the ways that the uptake of microplastics and nanoplastics are potentially dangerous to our biota. After understanding the issues, we can focus on how to handle the problems caused by plastic overuse.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potent Impact of Plastic Nanomaterials and Micromaterials on the Food Chain and Human Health

Wang

Lee

Chiu

et al. 2020

IJMS

138

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“…The effects of MPs on soil-plant and water-plant systems have started gaining increasing attention recently. MPs in soil matrix can affect the soil properties including soil aggregation, bulk density and water holding capacity and may also affects water properties such as total dissolved and suspended solids, electrical conductivity, pH and dissolved oxygen [3,[5][6]56]. Plants are usually exposed to MPs from the soil matrix and the effect or toxicity they have maybe dependent on plant, type, shape, size and concentration of MPs [1,4].…”

Section: Plantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For terrestrial organisms, soil invertebrates, such as nematodes, collembolan, oligochaeta (e.g. earthworms) and isopods have been studied [1,9,56]. The toxicological effect of MPs on soil organisms have been extensively discussed and reviewed [1,9].…”

Section: Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics Exposure Routes and Toxicity Studies to Ecosystems: An Overview

Enyoh

Shafea

Verla

et al. 2020

Environ Anal Health Toxicol

130

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Plastic products with tremendous consumption are ubiquitous in our daily lives and the annual production of plastics is drastically increasing [1]. It is now expected to reach 33 billion tonnes by 2050 [2] with plastic waste in the environment projected to reach 67.8 million metric tons by the same year [3]. The pollution of plastic cum microplastics (MPs) from degradation in the environment is currently a hot issue attracting the global attention of many scientists, governmental and non-governmental organization and the public media [3-7]. Although few studies have investigated the chemical behavior and toxicity of MPs in the natural environment, studies focusing on its toxicity in tandem with toxic chemicals to ecosystems are scarce [1,4,8]. There are many toxicology reports that MPs are harmful to ecosystems. Terrestrial organisms such as earthworms, soil collembolans, and other animals, as well as plants have been affected by MPs [1,4,9-13]. Also, aquatic organisms such fish, sandhoppers, sea turtle, crustacean and mussel have also been affected by MPs [14-15]. In addition, humans are exposed to MPs via trophic transfer or by direct ingestion, contact and inhalation and plausible effects include lung inflammation and genotoxicity may occur [1,3,16,17]. Aside from the innate toxicity of MPs, they can carry different toxic chemicals such as heavy metals and organic pollutant by adsorption process, and double the effect of such pollutants [1,8,18]. Succinctly, plastic products are made up of mixtures of polymers, fillers, and multiple additives to improve its usability. Also, there are other chemicals including unreacted monomers, starting substances and non-intentionally added substances (NIAS; impurities, side or breakdown products) that are also present in plastic. However, most of these chemicals are not covalently bound to the polymer, so they can be released at all stages of the plastics' life cycle via migration to liquids or solids or via volatilization [1]. Therefore, plastic materials are an important source of human exposure to chemicals.

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“…While many studies focus on the impacts of microplastics on fauna, few actually probed their impacts on plants and agriculture. It was found that farmlands contain substantial microplastics because sludge from wastewater and sewage treatment plants is often used as soil additives for agriculture [7]. In fact, wastewater and sewage treatment plants are significant contributors of environmental microplastics through discharge of effluents and sludge containing microplastics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…ic fiber and biodegradable polylactic acid reduced the shoot Lolium perenne) but increased its chlorophylls a and b levels (7). Synthetic fiber and biodegradable polyacetic acid also retarded seed germination though the former was linked to an increase in root biomass.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

Effects of Microplastics on Agriculture: A Mini-review

Tang

2020

AJEE

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Microplastics have permeated most, if not all, ecosystems including the terrestrial ones. The presence of microplastics in soil poses concerns on plants and agriculture. Microplastics alter soil biophysical properties including bulk density, water holding capacity and soil microbial interactions with water stable aggregates. The effects of microplastics on soil and plants frequently depend on the types and sizes of microplastics. This mini review presents a concise illustration of the impacts of microplastics on plants and crops. From the review, microplastics alter soil biophysical and chemical characteristics either positively or negatively depending on their types, concentrations, sizes and shapes. It reveals the ability of microplastics to affect enzymatic activities of plants which could lead to genotoxicity and oxidative damage. It unveils endocytosis of microplastics by specific plant cells as well as the uptake of microplastics via root and their accumulation and transport in plants facilitated by transpiration. This review also shows microplastics reduce root growth and seed germination at least transiently while do not seem to alter chlorophyll content. Microplastics were found to not interfere with phytoremediation of metals by the common reeds. This review highlights the need of more studies to confirm the effects of microplastics on crops and plants as the existing studies in this area are limited.

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Effects of Microplastics in Soil Ecosystems: Above and Below Ground

Cited by 979 publications

References 86 publications

Potent Impact of Plastic Nanomaterials and Micromaterials on the Food Chain and Human Health

Potent Impact of Plastic Nanomaterials and Micromaterials on the Food Chain and Human Health

Microplastics Exposure Routes and Toxicity Studies to Ecosystems: An Overview

Effects of Microplastics on Agriculture: A Mini-review

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