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How Soil Invertebrates Deal With Microplastic Contamination
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This accessible review explains how different types of soil invertebrates — including earthworms, springtails, and mites — encounter and respond to microplastic contamination in soils. It highlights how these tiny animals, which are vital for nutrient cycling and soil health, are affected by the growing presence of plastic particles in terrestrial ecosystems.
Small animals living in soils, called soil invertebrates, represent a very diverse group of soil inhabitants. They include earthworms, woodlice, spiders, springtails, mites, and some insects. Soil invertebrates feed on dead plants, on fungi and bacteria, or on other soil invertebrates. The many ways soil invertebrates interact with each other, and the large number of different species, make life in soils complex and difficult to understand. Unfortunately, soil invertebrates have been dealing with soil pollution, including contamination with tiny particles of plastic called microplastics for decades now. But are microplastics harmful to these organisms? Can microplastics be passed between soil invertebrates when one feeds on another? Most questions about microplastics and soil invertebrates have been investigated using earthworms, but a few studies on others, like springtails, mites, and nematodes, also exist. In this article, we summarize the effects of microplastics on soil invertebrates.
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This review highlights the overlooked impact of microplastics on tiny soil organisms like mites, springtails, and nematodes that play critical roles in keeping soil ecosystems healthy. Ingesting microplastics can harm their development and reproduction, which disrupts nutrient cycling and soil food webs. Since these organisms help maintain the soil that grows our food, their decline from plastic pollution could have cascading effects on agriculture and human nutrition.
Interaction of Invertebrates and Synthetic Polymers in Soil: A Review
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This review summarizes how microplastics in soil harm invertebrates including nematodes, springtails, and earthworms, while some soil animals can fragment or ingest and transport plastic particles. The presence of microplastics in soil disrupts the gut function of soil organisms that play critical roles in maintaining healthy, productive soils.
Implication of microplastics on soil faunal communities — identifying gaps of knowledge
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This systematic review examines how microplastics in soil affect earthworms, springtails, mites, and other soil-dwelling creatures that are essential for healthy soil. The impacts are highly variable and depend on the type of plastic, particle size, and soil conditions, making broad conclusions difficult. The review identifies critical knowledge gaps, noting that most studies use unrealistically high microplastic concentrations, and calls for research at levels that match actual field conditions.
What do we know about how the terrestrial multicellular soil fauna reacts to microplastic?
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This review analyzed the available literature on how soil-dwelling animals respond to microplastics and found evidence of uptake, bioaccumulation, and harmful effects across many groups including earthworms, springtails, and beetles. Most studies used high concentrations not yet found in real soils, limiting conclusions about current environmental risks.
What do we know about how the terrestrial multicellular soil fauna reacts to microplastic?
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This review synthesized studies on how soil-dwelling animals — including earthworms, insects, and mites — respond to microplastic contamination, finding evidence of ingestion, tissue accumulation, and harmful effects across multiple soil organism groups. However, most studies used unrealistically high concentrations, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions about risks at current environmental levels.
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