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Microplastics and Climate Change: Unveiling Ecological Impacts and Addressing Research Gaps
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This review synthesizes research from 2019 to 2024 on the mechanisms by which microplastics influence greenhouse gas emissions — including CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide — in terrestrial and aquatic environments, examining roles such as nutrient adsorption and microbial substrate provision. The authors highlight the particularly underexplored contribution of nitrous oxide, which has a global warming potential approximately 300 times that of CO2, and call for standardized methodologies and long-term field studies to assess cumulative climate impacts.
Microplastics, pervasive in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, have emerged as significant contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). This review synthesizes recent studies from 2019 to 2024, revealing the complex mechanisms through which microplastics influence GHG production. These mechanisms include the adsorption of nutrients and pollutants onto microplastic surfaces and their role as substrates for microbial colonization. The impacts of microplastics vary significantly across different environments, such as agricultural soils and marine sediments. The review underscores the urgent need for standardized methodologies and long-term field studies to accurately assess the ecological consequences of microplastics. Notably, the role of nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent GHG with a global warming potential nearly 300 times that of CO2, remains underexplored in the context of microplastic interactions, highlighting a critical research gap. Additionally, the synergistic effects of microplastics with other pollutants require further investigation to fully understand their cumulative impact on GHG emissions. This review calls for a coordinated effort among researchers and policymakers to advance our understanding of microplastics' role in global GHG budgets and to develop effective strategies for mitigating their environmental and climatic impacts.
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Microplastics and Climate Change: Unveiling Ecological Impacts and Addressing Research Gaps
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This review synthesizes studies from 2022 to 2024 on how microplastics contribute to greenhouse gas emissions — including CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide — through mechanisms such as nutrient adsorption and microbial colonization, identifying nitrous oxide interactions as a critical and underexplored research gap.
Emerging challenges of microplastic impacts to ecological health and climate change
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This review examines how microplastics contribute not only to environmental pollution but also to climate change by altering microbial processes, disrupting biogeochemical cycles, and promoting greenhouse gas release. Researchers found that microplastics affect carbon cycling, phytoplankton photosynthesis, and atmospheric processes in ways that may exacerbate global warming. The study highlights significant knowledge gaps in understanding the mechanisms linking microplastic pollution to greenhouse gas emissions.
Effects of microplastics on microbial community and greenhouse gas emission in soil: A critical review
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This review examines how microplastics in soil affect microbial communities and greenhouse gas emissions, finding that microplastics can alter the abundance and activity of soil bacteria in ways that increase carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide release. The plastics change soil structure and chemistry, creating conditions that favor certain gas-producing microbes over others. These effects could worsen climate change while also disrupting soil fertility, with indirect consequences for food production.
The impact of microplastics and nanoplastics on biological nitrogen removal processes: Exacerbating the greenhouse effect
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This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics accumulate in wastewater treatment plants and interfere with the biological processes that remove nitrogen from water. The disruption leads to increased emissions of nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas, making the problem both an environmental health concern and a climate issue. The findings suggest that microplastic contamination in wastewater is undermining treatment effectiveness while simultaneously contributing to global warming.
Microbial Perspective: Regulatory Mechanisms of Interactions Between Microplastics and Dissolved Organic Matter on Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Aquatic Ecosystems
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Scientists reviewed 16 studies and found that plastic pollution in lakes, rivers, and oceans can change how much climate-warming gas water bodies release—boosting CO2 emissions while reducing another gas, N2O, with effects growing stronger the longer plastics linger and break down. This matters because microplastics aren't just a pollution or ingestion concern—they may also be quietly reshaping our planet's climate by altering how water ecosystems process carbon and nitrogen, adding another way plastic pollution could affect the environment we all depend on.
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