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A state-of-the-art review of environmental behavior and potential risks of biodegradable microplastics in soil ecosystems: Comparison with conventional microplastics

The Science of The Total Environment 2024 18 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 50 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Bing‐Jie Ni Jiao Fei, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Xue Bai, Bing‐Jie Ni Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Chuanjia Jiang, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Chuanjia Jiang, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Xue Bai, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Xianqiang Yin, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Xianqiang Yin, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Xianqiang Yin, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Xianqiang Yin, Bing‐Jie Ni Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Bing‐Jie Ni Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Bing‐Jie Ni Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Xianqiang Yin, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni

Summary

This review compares the environmental behavior and risks of biodegradable microplastics with conventional microplastics in soil ecosystems. Researchers found that biodegradable microplastics fragment more readily and their abundant functional groups significantly affect how they transport and interact with other contaminants like heavy metals. The study suggests that biodegradable plastics may pose distinct and potentially underestimated risks to soil health compared to their conventional counterparts.

As the use of biodegradable plastics becomes increasingly widespread, their environmental behaviors and impacts warrant attention. Unlike conventional plastics, their degradability predisposes them to fragment into microplastics (MPs) more readily. These MPs subsequently enter the terrestrial environment. The abundant functional groups of biodegradable MPs significantly affect their transport and interactions with other contaminants (e.g., organic contaminants and heavy metals). The intermediates and additives released from depolymerization of biodegradable MPs, as well as coexisting contaminants, induce alterations in soil ecosystems. These processes indicate that the impacts of biodegradable MPs on soil ecosystems might significantly diverge from conventional MPs. However, an exhaustive and timely comparison of the environmental behaviors and effects of biodegradable and conventional MPs within soil ecosystems remains scarce. To address this gap, the Web of Science database and bibliometric software were utilized to identify publications with keywords containing biodegradable MPs and soil. Moreover, this review comprehensively summarizes the transport behavior of biodegradable MPs, their role as contaminant carriers, and the potential risks they pose to soil physicochemical properties, nutrient cycling, biota, and CO emissions as compared with conventional MPs. Biodegradable MPs, due to their great transport and adsorption capacity, facilitate the mobility of coexisting contaminants, potentially inducing widespread soil and groundwater contamination. Additionally, these MPs and their depolymerization products can disrupt soil ecosystems by altering physicochemical properties, increasing microbial biomass, decreasing microbial diversity, inhibiting the development of plants and animals, and increasing CO emissions. Finally, some perspectives are proposed to outline future research directions. Overall, this study emphasizes the pronounced effects of biodegradable MPs on soil ecosystems relative to their conventional counterparts and contributes to the understanding and management of biodegradable plastic contamination within the terrestrial ecosystem.

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