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Review of microplastic sources, transport pathways and correlations with other soil stressors: a journey from agricultural sites into the environment
Summary
Researchers reviewed how microplastics spread from farms into surrounding soils, waterways, and air through both biological processes (like earthworm movement) and physical ones (like wind and runoff), while also carrying along pesticides, fertilizers, and pathogens as hitchhikers. The review highlights major gaps in our understanding of microplastic transport across landscapes and calls for more field-scale research.
Abstract This paper explores different interactions and processes involved in the transport of microplastics from agricultural systems to surrounding environments. We conducted an exhaustive review of the most recent scientific papers on microplastic transport in terrestrial systems, with an emphasis on agricultural systems. In the following sections, several aspects of this problem are discussed, namely (i) direct and indirect sources of microplastics, (ii) biotic and abiotic transportation of microplastics in and from the terrestrial environment, (iii) modelling of microplastics in the terrestrial environment and (iv) facilitated chemicals and pathogens in combination with plastic particles. There is very little information available concerning microplastic transport in the terrestrial environment; therefore, more research is needed to gain a better understanding of how these processes take place. The novelty of this review lies in assessing how microplastic transport occurs from the plastisphere (cellular) to the landscape level and from agricultural systems to the surrounding areas. Graphical Abstract