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Beyond Chemistry and Biology: Microplastics as Emerging Structural Agents in Soil
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Microplastics aren't just chemically or biologically contaminating our soil, this review argues they may also be physically weakening its structure, affecting how well soil holds together, drains water, and resists erosion. This matters because healthy soil structure supports crop growth and prevents land collapse or erosion near farms, construction sites, and landfills, yet scientists still don't fully understand how much damage accumulating plastic waste is causing underground.
M icroplastics are rapidly expanding in spatial distribution and accumulating in quantity within global soil ecosystems. 1,2This trend reveals a fundamental fact.Microplastics have progressively become a significant anthropogenic component of soil matrices, extending from intensively managed agricultural landscapes to remote natural environments.In light of this situation, the growing academic interest in evaluating microplastic-mediated impacts on soil health is understandable.However, existing research has predominantly concentrated on the transport and aging dynamics of microplastics, their influence on biogeochemical cycles, and their effects on soil biota. 3,4In reality, the concept of soil health extends beyond chemical and biological attributes.A crucial yet frequently overlooked aspect is the physical structure of soil, including pore networks, aggregate stability, and mechanical strength.This constitutes a prerequisite for the activity and survival of soil fauna, microorganisms, and plant root systems, while also serving as a core foundation for resisting erosion and shear failure.It ensures soil stability in contexts like landfills, mine reclamation, and construction sites.The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations explicitly identifies the stability and integrity of soil physical structure as a key dimension of soil health. 5Physical structure directly governs essential soil functions such as water infiltration, gas exchange, and erosion resistance, thereby shaping both ecosystem and engineering services.Nevertheless, significant knowledge gaps regarding how microplastics affect the structural integrity and stability of soil remain.
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Microplastic in Soil Ecosystem: Transition and Ecological Impacts
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This review examined how microplastics transition through soil ecosystems, alter soil structure, affect microbial communities, and impact plant health and agricultural productivity. Soil microplastic contamination is a growing threat to food security because it degrades the biological systems that underpin crop growth while simultaneously introducing chemical additives into the root zone where they can be taken up by edible plants.
Soil Aggregates and Organic Carbon Transformation in Response to Microplastics Pollution
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Researchers synthesized 131 studies on microplastics in agricultural soils and found that microplastics destabilize soil aggregates, accelerate organic carbon mineralization, and stimulate microbial activity in ways that collectively degrade soil structure and increase carbon loss to the atmosphere.
Microplastics in Soil-Plant Systems
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This review synthesized evidence on microplastic contamination in terrestrial soil-plant systems, examining effects on soil structure, nutrient cycling, microbial communities, and plant uptake of plastic particles. Because plants can absorb microplastics and translocate them into edible tissue, agricultural soil contamination represents a direct and underappreciated pathway of human dietary exposure to plastic particles.
Microplastics and Their Effects on Soil Function as a Life-Supporting System
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Microplastics alter essential soil functions by changing soil structure, water retention, microbial communities, and nutrient cycling in ways that threaten the life-supporting capacity of agricultural and natural soils. As terrestrial microplastic contamination continues to grow — exceeding ocean concentrations in many regions — the long-term health of soil ecosystems and food production is at risk.
Long-Term Fate of Micro/Nanoplastics in Soil Systems and Their Impacts
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Researchers examined the long-term fate of micro- and nanoplastics in soil, finding that these persistent particles accumulate over time and can disrupt soil ecosystems, potentially affecting plant growth, soil organisms, and the broader food chain through sustained environmental exposure.
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