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A vegetation strategy to balance the hazardous level of microplastics in the land–sea interface through rhizosphere remediation
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Researchers reviewed how plants — especially aquatic plants in coastal wetlands and estuaries — can trap and break down microplastics through their root systems and surrounding soil microbes, a process called phytoremediation. Aquatic plants show particular promise because their roots are constantly submerged in contaminated water, giving them more exposure and capture potential than land-based crops.
• Plant interactions with microplastics (MP) were reviewed. • MPs combined with other pollutants affect crops, aquatic plants, and mangroves. • Vegetation zones in estuaries and coastal wetlands are barriers for MP remediation. • The rhizosphere function of plants is the key to microplastic phytoremediation. • Degradation by rhizosphere and phyllosphere microbes may become a research hotspot. Microplastic (MP) pollution is an emerging threat to the natural environment and has become a global problem. Plants have been used to remove heavy metals, toxic organic pollutants, and MPs from contaminated environments. However, current research on the interaction between MPs and plants has focused on the food safety evaluation of terrestrial plants, such as crops and vegetables. There are, consequently, limited studies on aquatic plants, particularly those at land–sea interfaces, and their remediation potential. To address this research gap, the present study employed a bibliometric analysis and statistics from Web of Science ( WoS ) data from 2017 to 2023 to detail the interactions between MPs and plants. Because the study of aquatic plants was far less extensive than that of terrestrial plants, there was a need to draw analogies regarding how different plant species interact with various microplastics. This primarily pertains to the following aspects: direct and indirect effects of MPs on plants (including combined pollution), which included growth and development; nutrient intake; and physiological, biochemical, and genetic functions. The growth environments and physiological structures of aquatic plants and terrestrial plants differed, resulted in a greater potential for the root systems of aquatic plants to capture MPs. The impacts of MPs on the microbial processes in rhizospheres and phyllospheres in aquatic plants were also assessed because these plants are often used to remediate contaminated environments and wastewater treatment in the form of natural and constructed wetlands. Therefore, we proposed the potential of phytoremediation, particularly by aquatic plants, and future research directions related to MPs in this study.
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Researchers reviewed how vegetated ecosystems — like wetlands and marshes — act as natural filters that trap microplastics before they flow into waterways, but found that these trapped particles can still harm soil health and plant growth by causing oxidative stress. The review highlights a critical gap: plants help protect aquatic environments from microplastic pollution while simultaneously being harmed by it themselves.
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This review examines how the growing presence of micro- and nanoplastics in contaminated soils affects plant-assisted bioremediation, finding that microplastics disrupt the plant-microbe rhizosphere interactions that make phytoremediation effective for removing heavy metals and degrading organic pollutants.
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