Transfer and transport of microplastics from biosolids to agricultural soils and the wider environment

Crossman, Jill; Hurley, Rachel; Bishop, Kevin; Nizzetto, Luca

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138334

Cited by 276 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Dumped into the soil, MPs are supposed to influence physical properties, such as the water-holding capacity (WHC), processes like soil aggregation, the performance and composition of the soil microbial community, the soil fauna and the flora (de Souza Machado et al, 2018;Lehmann et al, 2019;Rillig et al, 2019;Büks et al, 2020a;Fei et al, 2020). Although the number of studies on MPs in soil environments has been rising in the last decade ( Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global concentrations of microplastics in soils – a review

Büks

Kaupenjohann

2020

SOIL

251

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Abstract. Worldwide, microplastics (MPs) have been commonly recognized as a threat to soil ecosystems. Terrestrial soils are widely contaminated by MPs due to the application of sewage sludge and wastewater, plastic mulching, littering, the input of tire wear from roads and atmospheric deposition. Within the last decade, an increasing number of individual studies focused on item counts and masses of MPs in different global soil environments. We reviewed these studies to achieve a representative picture of common degrees of contamination. The majority of the prospected agricultural and horticultural sites were exposed to sewage sludge and mulching film application and showed concentrations of <13 000 items kg−1 dry soil and 4.5 mg kg−1 dry soil. Microplastic concentrations in soils in the vicinity of municipal areas were thereby 10 times larger compared to rural sites. The measurement of masses was generally underrepresented compared to item numbers, and mass data were often generated from microscopic analyses by using shape-to-mass models instead of direct measurements. Extreme values, such as on industrial sites, exceed the common concentrations by 2 to 4 orders of magnitude, which might be attributed not only to the land use but also to the applied methods of measurement. Campaigns that focus on other entry pathways like composts, road dust runoff and littering or land uses like grassland, forest, fallow and wilderness as well as industrial sites and landfills were underrepresented or nonexistent. Background loads, such as atmospheric deposition, were often not excluded from the measurements and, thus, the studies might overestimate the contribution of the analyzed entry pathway to the total load. Other studies focused on light density MP, e.g., from mulching films, and therefore underestimated the amount of soil MP. Despite these limitations, the data give an impression of the spectrum of global MP concentrations and are a good basis for experiments examining the effects of MPs on exposed soils. Based on the collected data, we identified problems of past studies and recommend that future experimentation take into account standardized methods of extraction and quantification, a proper characterization of the sampling sites and their history as well as the exploration of as yet underrepresented entry pathways and land uses.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global concentrations of microplastics in soils – a review

Büks

Kaupenjohann

2020

SOIL

251

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“…Three of four pan-american studies focus on sewage sludge application and found fibers more than other shapes (Zubris and Richards, 2005;Corradini et al, 2019;Crossman et al, 2020). All sites contained on average 1190 items kg -1 (n=37, 25 %=286 items kg -1 , 75 %=2060 items kg -1 ) with the lowest concentrations in Ontario (Canada).…”

Section: The Americasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All sites contained on average 1190 items kg -1 (n=37, 25 %=286 items kg -1 , 75 %=2060 items kg -1 ) with the lowest concentrations in Ontario (Canada). Here, agricultural landscapes received repeated application of sludge and were examined by use of DF and LM+FTIR (Crossman et al, 2020). The MP concentrations increased from 4 items kg -1 on a site with no application to 541±305 items kg -1 after two applications.…”

Section: The Americasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sites with sewage sludge application have average MP concentrations of 1998 items kg -1 (n=24, 25 %: 999 items kg -1 , 75 % 3616 items kg -1 ) or 2.2 mg kg -1 (n=8, 1.7 mg kg -1 , 4.5 mg kg -1 ), which increase with the number of sewage sludge applications (Corradini et al, 2019;Crossman et al, 2020;van den Berg et al, 2020). These loads are approximately one order of magnitude above values measured in fields with plastic mulching, both in terms of number and weight.…”

Section: Global Concentrationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On most sites (81%), the sampling depths are well documented and vary between the top 5 cm, parts of the topsoil, the plow layer or deeper layers (Piehl et al, 2018;Huang et al, 2020). As the MP concentration is shown to vary with depth (Zubris and Richards, 2005;Liu et al, 2018;Crossman et al, 2020), projecting concentrations of certain upper parts of a top layer to predict the total top layer's concentration will result in an overestimation of its MP stock. This might be less important in agricultural soils with annually plowed topsoils, but will affect the concentrations estimated in soils with no tillage.…”

Section: How Robust Are These Data?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Global concentrations of microplastic in soils, a review

Büks

Kaupenjohann

2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Worldwide, microplastic (MP) has been commonly recognized as a threat for soil ecosystems. Terrestrial soils are widely contaminated by MP due to the application of sewage sludge and wastewater, plastic mulching, littering, the input of tire wear from roads and atmospheric deposition. Within the last decade, an increasing number of individual studies focused on item counts and masses of MP in different global soil environments. We reviewed these studies to achieve a representative picture of common degrees of contamination. The majority of the prospected agricultural and horticultural sites was exposed to sewage sludge and mulching film application and showed concentrations of

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Microplastics in Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) spraints and their potential as a biomonitoring tool in freshwater systems

et al. 2022

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The ubiquitous nature of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems may have serious implications for aquatic biota. While microplastic research in freshwater ecosystems is increasing, very few studies have assessed the physical presence of microplastics among top predators. The Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra), a top predator of aquatic ecosystems, is one of the most widely distributed otter species and has a broad habitat niche. The opportunistic collection of otter spraints (i.e., feces) presents a valuable opportunity to assess pollutants of freshwater ecosystems through noninvasive means. Here, we assessed the prevalence, abundance, and concentration of microplastics (100 μm to 5 mm), as well as dietary remains, in 53 spraint samples collected over eight river catchments spanning three regions of Ireland. We found microplastics present in 57% of spraints at an abundance of 1.2 ± 0.1 microplastics (MPs)/spraint (mean ± SE) and a concentration of 3.8 ± 0.6 MPs/g (dry weight). Fibers were the dominant particle type recovered (85%), followed by film (10%). No significant differences in microplastic concentrations were detected between the three regions assessed, or between spraints collected from areas upstream (i.e., “lower” exposure) or downstream (“higher” exposure) of putative microplastic sources, which were defined using spatial vector data. While microplastic concentrations were not explained by spraint condition (i.e., fresh, drying, or dry), spraints collected in autumn had a significantly higher concentration than spring and summer. Furthermore, microplastic abundance or concentration could not be linked to dietary composition based on the items identified. From a trophic perspective, this study showed that the presence of microplastics in the feces of otter is most likely being obtained through its prey (i.e., secondary ingestion). While there may be limitations associated with using spraints as a biomonitoring tool for microplastics in freshwater systems, particularly with respect to otter home range and dietary niche breadth, they could still be employed for a regional assessment of microplastic levels.

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Transfer and transport of microplastics from biosolids to agricultural soils and the wider environment

Cited by 276 publications

References 21 publications

Global concentrations of microplastics in soils – a review

Global concentrations of microplastics in soils – a review

Global concentrations of microplastic in soils, a review

Microplastics in Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) spraints and their potential as a biomonitoring tool in freshwater systems

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