Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Silent Alienation of Soils through Microplastic in the Anthropocene – A Constraint for Soil Productivity?

This review examines how microplastics accumulate in soils and alter their physical properties and biological communities over time. Microplastics resist biodegradation and can reduce soil porosity, alter water retention, and harm soil organisms. The authors argue that ongoing plastic accumulation in farmland poses a long-term threat to soil productivity and global food security.

2023 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Soil erosion and sediment dynamics in the Anthropocene: a review of human impacts during a period of rapid global environmental change

This review examines how human activities have altered soil erosion and sediment transport patterns, particularly since the mid-twentieth century. Researchers found that land use changes, deforestation, and agriculture have dramatically increased erosion rates, while dams and reservoirs have disrupted natural sediment flow to oceans. The study highlights how these changes affect global climate, water security, and the transport of pollutants including microplastics through river systems.

2020 Journal of Soils and Sediments 183 citations
Article Tier 2

The Growing Problem of Soil Pollution with Microplastics: a Review

This review examined how microplastic accumulation in soil disrupts physicochemical properties including structure, porosity, and water retention, impairs soil microbial communities, inhibits plant growth, and causes oxidative stress, with agricultural soils identified as especially vulnerable to contamination.

2025
Article Tier 2

Impacts of microplastics and urbanization on soil health: An urgent concern for sustainable development

Researchers reviewed how microplastics and urbanization together degrade soil health — disrupting soil biology, contaminating food chains, and creating compounding risks beyond what either factor causes alone. The study calls for urgent management strategies including reducing plastic use, sustainable urban planning, and active soil restoration.

2024 Green Analytical Chemistry 39 citations
Article Tier 2

Soil under stress: The importance of soil life and how it is influenced by (micro)plastic pollution

This review examines how plastic pollution in soil disrupts soil organisms and microorganisms that regulate essential ecosystem functions, finding that plastic alters soil chemistry, physical structure, and microbial communities in ways that threaten primary production and carbon cycling.

2022 Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal 78 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental fate and impacts of microplastics in soil ecosystems: Progress and perspective

This review summarized knowledge on microplastics in soil environments, covering occurrence across agricultural, industrial, and urban soils, transport pathways, and ecological risks to soil organisms and plant communities. The authors identify key data gaps and methodological challenges that currently limit understanding of microplastic fate and impact in terrestrial systems.

2019 The Science of The Total Environment 509 citations
Article Tier 2

A Review on Microplastic in the Soils and Their Impact on Soil Microbes, Crops and Humans

This review examines microplastic contamination in agricultural soils, detailing how microplastic particles act as vectors for toxic organic pollutants and heavy metals, disrupting soil physicochemical properties, microbial communities, crop growth, and ultimately entering the human food chain.

2022 International Journal of Research -GRANTHAALAYAH 7 citations
Review Tier 2

Sources, pollution, and ecological impacts of soil microplastics-A review

A comprehensive review summarized the sources, distribution, and ecological impacts of microplastics in soil environments, synthesizing evidence on how plastics affect soil organisms, structure, and agricultural productivity. The review calls for urgent policy action to address soil microplastic contamination as a threat to food security.

2025 Environmental chemistry and safety 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Soils in distress: The impacts and ecological risks of (micro)plastic pollution in the terrestrial environment

This review examines how microplastics affect soil ecosystems, including their transport into soils, changes they undergo in the environment, and their interactions with soil organisms. The effects depend heavily on the type, shape, size, and amount of plastic particles present. Understanding these impacts is important because soil contamination with microplastics can affect food production and ultimately human exposure through the food chain.

2023 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 93 citations
Article Tier 2

Spatial Risks ofMicroplastics in Soils and the CascadingEffects Thereof

This review mapped the spatial risks of microplastic contamination in global soils, examining how climate, land use, and human activities distribute MP pollution and analyzing cascading effects on soil ecology, carbon cycling, and ecosystem services.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in soils: Production, behavior process, impact on soil organisms, and related toxicity mechanisms

This review examines how microplastics enter and persist in soils, covering their sources from agricultural plastics, irrigation water, and atmospheric deposition. Researchers found that microplastics can alter soil structure, affect nutrient cycling, and harm soil organisms like earthworms and microbes. The study highlights significant gaps in understanding the long-term ecological consequences of soil microplastic contamination.

2023 Chemosphere 29 citations
Review Tier 2

Formation, behavior, properties and impact of micro- and nanoplastics on agricultural soil ecosystems (A Review)

This review provides a comprehensive look at how micro and nanoplastics affect agricultural soil ecosystems, covering their sources, movement through soil, and impacts on soil organisms and crop growth. The authors found that microplastics can alter soil structure, reduce beneficial microbial activity, and affect plant nutrient uptake. These changes to farmland soils could ultimately threaten food security and introduce microplastics into the human food supply.

2023 NanoImpact 55 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in terrestrial ecosystems: sources, transport, fate, mitigation, and remediation strategies

This review examines how microplastics from urban, agricultural, and industrial sources are building up in soils worldwide. Wind, water, and soil organisms transport these particles across landscapes, where they persist and can affect soil structure and the health of living things. The authors highlight that land-based microplastic pollution has received far less attention than ocean pollution, despite its potential risks to ecosystems and human health through the food chain.

2025 Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration 52 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro plastics in soil ecosystem - A review of sources, fate, and ecological impact

This review covers sources, fate, and ecological impacts of microplastics in soil ecosystems, finding that global plastic production has increased from 1.7 million tonnes in 1950 to over 320 million tonnes annually, with microplastics now detected in soils across all land use types.

2021 Plant Soil and Environment 62 citations
Article Tier 2

A global review on the abundance and threats of microplastics in soils to terrestrial ecosystem and human health

This review examines microplastic pollution levels across agricultural, roadside, urban, and landfill soils worldwide, finding wide variation but consistent contamination. Microplastics alter soil pH, density, and water movement, disrupt microbial communities, inhibit plant growth, and affect soil animals. For humans, the concern is that microplastics in soil can enter the food chain through crops and contaminated water.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 64 citations
Article Tier 2

Soil Environment Pollution with Microplastic, Influence Factors and Environmental Risks

This review synthesizes research on microplastic contamination of soil environments, covering the major sources of soil microplastics, factors influencing their accumulation and distribution, and the environmental risks they pose to terrestrial ecosystems and agriculture.

2023 Ecology and Industry of Russia 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in the soil environment: Focusing on the sources, its transformation and change in morphology

This review focuses on how microplastics form and change shape in soil environments, tracing their journey from sources like agricultural plastic films, sewage sludge, and tire wear through biological and physical breakdown processes. The authors explain that microplastics do not just shrink over time but undergo chemical changes that can make them more or less toxic. Understanding these transformations in soil is important because it affects how microplastics move through agricultural land and into food crops.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 45 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as an Emerging Environmental Pollutant in Agricultural Soils: Effects on Ecosystems and Human Health

This review examines how microplastics enter and move through agricultural soil ecosystems, affecting soil properties, nutrient cycling, and the organisms that live in and depend on healthy soil. Researchers found that microplastics can alter key biogeochemical processes and interact with co-existing pollutants like heavy metals and pesticides, potentially compounding their harmful effects. The study highlights the need for prevention and control strategies as microplastic contamination of farmland becomes an increasingly recognized environmental and potential human health concern.

2022 Frontiers in Environmental Science 151 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro Plastic Pollution in Soil Environment: A Comprehensive Review

This comprehensive review covers sources, distribution, degradation pathways, and ecological effects of microplastics in soil environments, highlighting threats to soil fauna, microbiota, and plant growth.

2024 Journal of Scientific Research and Reports 1 citations
Article Tier 2

The extent and impacts of soil pollution by microplastics

This study examines the extent and impacts of soil pollution by microplastics, reviewing evidence of how microplastic particles accumulate in terrestrial environments and affect soil ecosystems, organisms, and agricultural systems.

2024 SPIRE - Sciences Po Institutional REpository
Article Tier 2

Paving the way toward soil safety and health: current status, challenges, and potential solutions

This review examines the global threats to soil health from industrial chemical contamination and explores potential solutions including monitoring, advanced remediation technologies, and holistic soil management. While covering soil pollution broadly, it is relevant to microplastics because they are a major and growing soil contaminant that is extremely difficult to remove once introduced. The review emphasizes that preventing pollutants from entering soil is far more effective and less costly than trying to clean up contamination afterward.

2024 Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering 15 citations
Article Tier 2

How microplastics are destroying soil and human health

This review examined how microplastics harm soil health — disrupting soil structure, water retention, microbial communities, and nutrient cycling — and how soil degradation translates into risks for human health through food and water contamination. It argues that soil microplastic pollution deserves equivalent attention to aquatic contamination.

2024
Article Tier 2

Soil Microplastic Pollution and its Remediation: An Overview

This overview reviews the scope of microplastic pollution in soils globally, summarizing contamination sources, effects on soil ecosystems, and available remediation strategies including physical, chemical, and biological approaches to address this emerging environmental problem.

2025 Egyptian Journal of Soil Science
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as Emerging Soil Pollutants

This review covers how microplastics enter and accumulate in soils, their effects on soil health, microbial communities, soil fauna, and plant growth, and the implications of widespread soil plastic contamination for ecosystem function.

2024