Papers

The mycorrhizal symbiosis: research frontiers in genomics, ecology, and agricultural application

This review covers the latest advances in understanding mycorrhizal fungi, which form partnerships with plant roots to help them absorb nutrients and resist stress. While not directly about microplastics, mycorrhizal networks play a critical role in soil health, and research shows that microplastic contamination in soil can disrupt these beneficial fungal partnerships. Healthy mycorrhizal networks may also help buffer plants against some negative effects of soil pollutants, including microplastics.

Microplastics in water resources: Global pollution circle, possible technological solutions, legislations, and future horizon

This review summarizes the global scope of microplastic contamination in water and sediment, finding levels that vary enormously -- from near zero to thousands of particles per sample. Microplastics absorb other pollutants from their surroundings, potentially concentrating harmful chemicals, and they infiltrate food chains from the smallest organisms upward. The authors call for stronger legislation and a combination of technological innovation, recycling, and public awareness to address this widespread threat to ecosystems and human health.

Polysaccharide nanocomposites in wastewater treatment: A review

This review covers how natural sugar-based polymers (polysaccharides) combined with nanoparticles can be used to clean contaminated water, removing pollutants including heavy metals, dyes, and pharmaceutical residues. While not focused on microplastics specifically, these eco-friendly materials could potentially be adapted to filter microplastics from water as well. The technology is relevant because it offers sustainable alternatives to conventional water treatment methods that struggle with emerging contaminants.

Unlocking secrets of microbial ecotoxicology: recent achievements and future challenges

This review explores how microorganisms interact with environmental pollutants, including microplastics, covering how bacteria can break down pollutants but are also harmed by them. The authors highlight that microplastics create new surfaces in the environment where bacteria form communities, potentially spreading harmful species or antibiotic resistance. Understanding these microbial interactions is critical for developing nature-based solutions to reduce pollution and protect human health.

Sorption kinetics of metallic and organic contaminants on micro- and nanoplastics: remarkable dependence of the intraparticulate contaminant diffusion coefficient on the particle size and potential role of polymer crystallinity

Researchers developed a mathematical model to describe how metallic and organic contaminants bind to micro- and nanoplastics over time, accounting for how particle size affects the process. They found that the rate at which pollutants diffuse into plastic particles depends strongly on particle size, with smaller particles absorbing contaminants much faster. The model provides a more accurate framework for predicting how microplastics act as carriers of environmental pollutants.

Polystyrene Nanoplastics Disrupt Hepatic Vitellogenin Metabolism and Impair the Reproduction Process in Female Zebrafish

Researchers exposed female zebrafish to polystyrene nanoplastics and found that the particles disrupted the production of vitellogenin, a key protein involved in egg development. Higher concentrations led to reduced reproductive output and changes in liver function. The study suggests that nanoplastic pollution in waterways could interfere with fish reproduction by disrupting the hormonal and metabolic pathways essential for egg formation.

Effect of Polymer Aging on Uptake/Release Kinetics of Metal Ions and Organic Molecules by Micro- and Nanoplastics: Implications for the Bioavailability of the Associated Compounds

Researchers developed a theoretical framework to describe how aging and degradation of plastic particles in the environment changes their ability to absorb and release metals and organic contaminants. They found that as plastics weather and break down, their capacity to pick up and later release pollutants increases significantly. The study suggests that the age and condition of microplastics are important factors in determining how much contamination they carry and deliver to living organisms.

Nanoplastics are potentially more dangerous than microplastics

Glyphosate, AMPA and glufosinate in soils and earthworms in a French arable landscape

Researchers sampled soils and earthworms across 120 sites in a French agricultural landscape and found glyphosate in 88% of soil samples and 74% of earthworm samples — including in untreated hedgerows and organic fields — with bioaccumulation in earthworms higher than predicted by the chemical's properties, suggesting underestimated trophic transfer risk.

Microplastic Detection in Soil Amended With Municipal Solid Waste Composts as Revealed by Transmission Electronic Microscopy and Pyrolysis/GC/MS

Researchers developed a method combining soil fractionation, transmission electron microscopy, and pyrolysis-gas chromatography to detect microplastics in agricultural soils amended with municipal solid waste compost. They successfully identified plastic fragments even in fine soil fractions below 200 micrometers by using titanium and barium as chemical tracers from the original polymer production. The study demonstrates that microplastics from compost persist in soil across multiple size fractions after years of repeated application.

Coarse microplastic accumulation patterns in agricultural soils during two decades of different urban composts application

Researchers analyzed 21 years of soil samples from fields treated with three different types of urban waste compost to track how microplastics accumulate over time. They found that all compost types introduced microplastics into the soil, with distinct patterns depending on the compost source, and that certain plastic types persisted and built up over decades. The study suggests that long-term compost application is a significant pathway for microplastic accumulation in agricultural soils.

Influence of surface pre-deformation on the Portevin-Le Chatelier effect and the related multiscale complexity of plastic flow in an Al-Mg alloy

Removal of microplastics from the environment. A review

Microplastics enhance Daphnia magna sensitivity to the pyrethroid insecticide deltamethrin: Effects on life history traits

Researchers tested whether polyethylene microplastics alter the toxicity of the pyrethroid insecticide deltamethrin to Daphnia magna and found that microplastic presence increased sensitivity to deltamethrin, reducing survival and reproductive output at concentrations that were not toxic without microplastics.

Divergent Responses of Rice ( <i>Oryza sativa</i> L.) Cell Wall to Cd Phytotoxicity Affected by Continuous Nanoplastics Stimulation

Researchers exposed rice plants to nanoplastics and cadmium, revealing a dosage-dependent dual effect: low nanoplastic doses immobilized 72% of cadmium in roots, while high doses disrupted cell wall integrity and increased cadmium translocation to shoots by 34%, worsening toxicity.

Is turning food waste into insect feed an uphill climb? A review of persistent challenges

This review examines the persistent challenges in using food waste as insect feed at commercial scale, including regulatory barriers, contamination risks from microplastics and other pollutants, and variability in waste feedstock composition.

Cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of lanthanides for Vicia faba L. are mediated by their chemical speciation in different exposure media

Researchers examined how different exposure media affect the toxicity of lanthanide rare-earth elements to bean plants (Vicia faba), finding that phosphate in standard growth media causes lanthanides to precipitate and become non-toxic, while in phosphate-free or distilled water they remain dissolved and cause significant cytotoxic and genotoxic damage — highlighting that media chemistry critically shapes ecotoxicity test outcomes.

Analysis of chlordecone and its transformation products in environmental waters by a new SPME-GC-MS method and comparison with LLE-GC-MS/MS and LLE-LC-MS/MS: A case study in the French West Indies

Researchers developed a new analytical method to detect chlordecone — a banned but long-persistent pesticide still contaminating soil and water in the French West Indies — along with its breakdown products, which had previously been underdetected. The study found that existing routine monitoring methods may overestimate or underestimate certain compounds, calling for improved standardized protocols to accurately track this toxic legacy pollutant.

Functional trait‐based approaches as a common framework for aquatic ecologists

This paper proposes a functional trait-based framework to unify aquatic ecology research across freshwater, marine, benthic, and pelagic systems. By using organism traits rather than taxonomic identity as the common currency, the framework aims to enable knowledge sharing and the discovery of general ecological rules across ecosystems.

Hierarchy of the macrozone features in Ti-6Al-4V alloy inferred from massive polycrystal plasticity calculations

Researchers used advanced crystal plasticity computer modeling to study how clusters of similarly-oriented grains — called macrozones — affect stress concentrations and fatigue performance in titanium alloys used in aerospace applications. The term "microplastic" here refers to early-stage metal deformation behavior (not environmental plastic pollution); results showed macrozone texture and shape strongly influence where stress hotspots form under cyclic loading.

Genotoxicity Set Up in Artemia franciscana Nauplii and Adults Exposed to Phenanthrene, Naphthalene, Fluoranthene, and Benzo(k)fluoranthene

Researchers assessed the genotoxic effects of four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on Artemia franciscana nauplii and adults, finding fluoranthene was most acutely toxic and that all four PAHs altered expression of stress-response genes even at sublethal concentrations. The results highlight the sensitivity of gene expression profiling as a complement to traditional lethality-based PAH risk assessment in crustaceans.

Photocatalytic degradation of polystyrene nanoplastics in water. A methodological study

Environmental sustainability assessment in agricultural systems: A conceptual and methodological review

Antibiotic resistance genes in treated wastewater and in the receiving water bodies: A pan-European survey of urban settings

Researchers surveyed 16 wastewater treatment plants across ten European countries and found that antibiotic resistance genes — DNA instructions that help bacteria survive antibiotics — are consistently released into rivers receiving treated wastewater. The study found that plants with more biological treatment steps had lower levels of these genes, suggesting that upgrading treatment infrastructure could reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment.