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Emerging Plastic Pollution Threats to Ecosystem Sustainability: A Systematic Review
Summary
Researchers systematically reviewed recent literature on plastic pollution threats to ecosystem sustainability and identified three primary impact categories — terrestrial microplastic contamination, aquatic ecosystem disruption, and pandemic-related pollution surges — finding the highest-quality evidence focused on soil microplastics, seagrass meadow impacts, and freshwater macroplastic accumulation.
This systematic review examines emerging threats of plastic pollution to ecosystem sustainability based on research published between 2021 and 2024. A comprehensive analysis of peer-reviewed literature named seven studies (n = 7), of which five (n = 5) met the inclusion criteria. The analysis revealed three distinct categories of ecosystem impacts: terrestrial (microplastic soil contamination), aquatic (marine and freshwater systems), and novel threats associated with global events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The highest-quality studies (n = 3) focused on terrestrial microplastic pollution, impacts on seagrass meadows, and freshwater macroplastic contamination. Other supporting studies provided insights into lifecycle impacts and pandemic-related pollution patterns. Overall, this review synthesizes evidence across multiple ecosystem types, highlighting the interconnected nature of emerging plastic pollution threats.