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Microplastics in Agroecosystems: Effects on Soil Microbiome, Nutrient Dynamics, and Fungal Interactions
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This review pulls together existing research showing that tiny plastic particles building up in farm soil can throw off the natural processes that keep soil healthy—disrupting helpful microbes, weakening nutrient cycles like nitrogen fixation, and harming beneficial fungi that plants rely on. Since these disruptions can hurt crop growth and soil fertility, and since microplastics may work their way into the food we eat, this matters for both the food supply and potential long-term human health effects that scientists are still working to understand.
Microplastics (MPs) have emerged as pervasive contaminants in agricultural soils, posing significant threats to soil health, microbial functionality, and sustainable crop production. This review comprehensively evaluates the sources, characteristics, detection approaches, and functional impacts of MPs on soil ecosystems, with a particular focus on microbiome dynamics, nutrient cycling, and fungal interactions. Major input pathways, including plastic mulching, organic amendments, irrigation, and atmospheric deposition, contribute to MP accumulation, reaching thousands of particles per kilogram of soil. Experimental evidence demonstrates substantial reductions in key enzymatic activities and alterations in carbon use efficiency, indicating impaired microbial metabolism due to mechanistic disruption of soil processes. MPs significantly disrupt nitrogen cycling, causing 15–40% declines in nitrogen fixation, 10–25% inhibition of nitrification, and shifts in functional gene abundance (nifH, amoA). Furthermore, MPs modify soil physicochemical properties and reshape rhizosphere interactions, adversely affecting plant growth and microbial colonization. Fungal systems, particularly basidiomycetes, exhibit altered biomass, reduced mycorrhizal associations, and limited polymer degradation potential, highlighting both ecological risks and bioremediation prospects. Additionally, MP exposure compromises biofertilizer efficiency, reducing microbial viability and root colonization. At the ecosystem level, these impacts may impair soil fertility and crop productivity. The potential transfer of MPs into the food chain raises critical concerns for food safety and human health. Despite growing evidence, major gaps remain in long-term field validation, mechanistic understanding, and methodological standardization, emphasizing the urgent need for mitigation strategies to ensure sustainable agroecosystem functioning.
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From soil disruption to biodegradation: A comprehensive review of microplastic effects and microbial breakdown mechanisms in terrestrial ecosystems
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This review pulls together existing research showing that tiny plastic particles in farm soil disrupt nutrients like phosphorus and harm the beneficial microbes plants need to grow, which can weaken crop health and soil fertility over time. Since these microplastics can also travel up the food chain into what we eat, this matters for human health, and the researchers point to promising fixes like using helpful soil microbes to break down plastics and restore soil balance.
Microplastics in Agroecosystems: Effects on Soil Microbiome, Nutrient Dynamics, and Fungal Interactions
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers reviewed how microplastics entering agricultural soils via mulch films, organic amendments, and irrigation disrupt soil microbiomes, impair nitrogen fixation and nitrification by 15–40%, reduce mycorrhizal associations, and may transfer up food chains, while highlighting major gaps in long-term field validation and mechanistic understanding.
A Comprehensive Review on Changes in Rhizosphere Soil Mediated by Microplastics: Soil Property, Microbial Gene Expression and Crop Growth
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Tiny plastic particles from farm plastics, fertilizers, and polluted water are building up in agricultural soil, and this review pulls together existing research showing they can disrupt soil bacteria and fungi, harm soil creatures like worms, and interfere with how crops absorb nutrients and grow. While scientists haven't yet directly studied how this affects the safety or nutritional quality of the food we eat, these soil disruptions raise real questions about the long-term health of our food supply. More research is needed to understand exactly how microplastic pollution in farmland could eventually reach our dinner plates.
Emerging Risks of Microplastics to Soil Microbial Functions in Rural Agricultural Landscapes
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This review paper pulls together existing research showing that tiny plastic particles building up in farm soils are disrupting the microbes that keep soil healthy—these microbes normally break down organic matter, cycle nutrients, and keep soil fertile for growing food. When microplastics harm these microbial communities, it can weaken soil quality over time, which matters because healthy soil is the foundation for the food we eat and long-term farming sustainability.
Microplastics as an Emerging Environmental Pollutant in Agricultural Soils: Effects on Ecosystems and Human Health
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This review examines how microplastics enter and move through agricultural soil ecosystems, affecting soil properties, nutrient cycling, and the organisms that live in and depend on healthy soil. Researchers found that microplastics can alter key biogeochemical processes and interact with co-existing pollutants like heavy metals and pesticides, potentially compounding their harmful effects. The study highlights the need for prevention and control strategies as microplastic contamination of farmland becomes an increasingly recognized environmental and potential human health concern.
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