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Do Microplastics and Nanoplastics Pose Risks to Biota in Agricultural Ecosystems?
Summary
This review examines the growing presence of micro- and nanoplastics in agricultural soils, estimated at over 0.5 megatons annually. Researchers found that these particles can have varied effects on soil properties, microorganisms, invertebrates, and plants, depending on polymer type, additives, and exposure duration. The study highlights that agricultural soils serve as major reservoirs for plastic pollution and calls for standardized research methods and regulatory guidelines to address the risks to food web safety.
The presence of microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) in soils is becoming pervasive in most agroecosystems. The recent estimates suggest that the soil burden of MNPs in the agroecosystems is more than 0.5 megatons (Mt) annually. In all the agroecosystems, the transformation, migration, and transferring of MNPs, along with other contaminants, and the trophic transfer of MNPs can threaten the food web. MPs can exhibit negative and positive effects, or none, on the physical/chemical properties of soil, soil microbiota, invertebrates, and plant systems, depending on the polymer compositions, additives, and exposure time. Difficulties in comparing the studies on the effects of MNPs, as well as the discrepancies among them, are mostly due to variations in the methods followed for sampling, detection, quantification, and the categorization of particles, abundance, and exposure time. Since agricultural soils are important environmental reservoirs for diverse chemicals and contaminants, they provide milieus for several types of interactions of MNPs with soil biota. The present review critically examines the sources and transformation of MNPs in agricultural soils, the release and fate of additives, as well as their role as vectors of other potential contaminants and influence on soil physical/chemical properties, toxicities to soil biota (i.e., microorganisms, invertebrates, and plants), current regulatory guidelines for the mitigation of MNPs, and future research directions.
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