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Effects and mechanism of microplastics on organic carbon and nitrogen cycling in agricultural soil: A review

Soil Use and Management 2023 39 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.
Yan Ma, Keming Yang, Hong Yu, Wenbing Tan, Yiman Gao, Bowen Lv, Bowen Lv

Summary

This review summarizes how microplastic pollution in agricultural soils affects carbon and nitrogen cycling by altering soil properties, microbial communities, and enzymatic activity. Evidence indicates that microplastics can change organic matter degradation rates and nutrient cycling processes, with implications for soil health and agricultural productivity.

Abstract At present, microplastics (MPs) are a kind of emerging pollutants of concern in the environment, and have a wide and far‐reaching impact on terrestrial ecosystems. This article summarizes the latest research progress of the impact of MPs pollution on the biogeochemical cycle of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N), and summarizes the current situation of MPs pollution in agricultural soil. On the basis of summarizing the effects of MPs on soil physicochemical properties, soil microorganisms and soil plants and animals, this article focuses on how soil MPs affect the C and N cycles by changing these factors. MPs can alter organic matter degradation and C and N cycles by changing the soil physicochemical properties, as well as the soil microbial and enzymatic activities. MPs may alter plants' nutrient uptake processes, which in turn affects the ability of plants to photosynthesize and absorb C and N elements. MPs can affect the survival rate, the growth rate and intestinal injury of soil animals, therefore indirectly affecting the soil C and N cycles. At the same time, this article compares the different effects of conventional plastics and biodegradable plastics on soil, and looks forward to the current research deficiencies and the future research directions of ecotoxicology of MPs on C and N cycle.

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