Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Plastic Debris in Agroecosystems: Distribution and Abundance Patterns, and Relationship with Terrain Characteristics in Southeastern Brazil

Researchers surveyed plastic debris across agricultural, grassland, and forest areas in southeastern Brazil and found that farmland accounted for over 91% of all plastic waste collected. Polypropylene, polyethylene, and PVC were the most common polymer types, and debris accumulation correlated strongly with terrain features like slope and vegetation cover. The findings highlight intensive agricultural practices as a primary driver of plastic pollution in agroecosystems.

2025 ACS Omega 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Macro and microplastics in the soil: abundance, characterization, identification, and interactions under different land uses in an agricultural sub-basin

Researchers examined the abundance, characterization, identification, and interactions of macro- and microplastics in soils under different land uses within an agricultural sub-basin, assessing how land-use patterns influence plastic pollution distribution and potential interactions with the soil environment.

2025 LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas)
Article Tier 2

Assessment of Soil Microplastics and Their Relation to Soil and Terrain Attributes Under Different Land Uses

Researchers assessed microplastic contamination in tropical soils under different land uses including forest, grassland, and agricultural areas. They found that agricultural soils had the highest microplastic concentrations, likely due to the use of plastic-based materials in farming. The study reveals how land use practices and soil characteristics influence the distribution and accumulation of microplastics in tropical environments.

2025 AgriEngineering 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of land-use patterns on soil microplastics: Distribution characteristics and driving factors in southern China’s Pearl River Delta

A study across different land-use types in China's Pearl River Delta found that agricultural land had higher soil microplastic concentrations than urban or forested areas, with land-use history and plastic mulch film use as the dominant factors controlling MP distribution and polymer composition.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic diversity, risks and soil impacts: A multi-metric assessment across land-use systems

Researchers surveyed microplastic abundance, polymer diversity, and ecological risk across seven land-use types in India's Brahmaputra Valley, finding that built-up areas had the highest particle counts while forest soils paradoxically showed the greatest polymer hazard scores due to high-risk polymers, and that land-use type shapes both the quantity and composition of soil microplastic contamination.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Meso- and microplastic composition, distribution patterns and drivers: A snapshot of plastic pollution on Brazilian beaches

A standardized survey of plastic pollution across 22 sandy beaches spanning over 4600 km of Brazilian coast found widespread contamination in coastal sediments, with polymer type, size, and distribution patterns reflecting diverse sources including fishing activity and urban runoff.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 29 citations
Article Tier 2

Spatial Distribution and Geostatistical Prediction of Microplastic Abundance in a Micro-Watershed with Tropical Soils in Southeastern Brazil

Researchers used geostatistical methods to predict and spatially map microplastic abundance in agricultural soil across a micro-watershed with tropical soils in southeastern Brazil. The study found heterogeneous spatial distribution patterns influenced by land use and topography, demonstrating that kriging-based interpolation can produce reliable continuous maps for environmental risk assessment.

2025 Agronomy
Article Tier 2

Distribution pattern and risk assessment of microplastics contamination in different agricultural systems

Researchers surveyed microplastic contamination in agricultural soils across six sites in Coimbatore, India with distinct farming practices, finding microplastics in 81% of organic matter-removed samples. The study revealed that different agronomic inputs and land management practices produce distinct microplastic contamination profiles.

2024 International Journal of Environmental & Analytical Chemistry 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of soil properties and land use patterns on the distribution of microplastics: A case study in southwest China

Researchers surveyed microplastic contamination in soils across different land use types in Guizhou Province, southwest China. The study found that soil properties and land use patterns significantly influence microplastic abundance and distribution, with agricultural and urban soils generally showing higher contamination levels than less intensively managed areas.

2024 Journal of Environmental Management 35 citations
Article Tier 2

Soil microplastic pollution under different land uses in tropics, southwestern China

Soil microplastic pollution was compared across four land use types in tropical southwestern China -- primary and secondary forests, rubber plantations, and banana plantations -- finding that agricultural land uses had higher microplastic abundance than natural forest soils.

2021 Chemosphere 88 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessing the impacts of land use and land cover on occurrence, spatial distribution of microplastics and heavy metals in an agricultural watershed, Tadepalligudem, Andhra Pradesh, India

Researchers mapped the occurrence and spatial distribution of microplastics and heavy metals in agricultural runoff from a watershed in Andhra Pradesh, India. They found an average of 41.7 microplastic items per liter, dominated by polypropylene and polyethylene fibers, with heavy metal concentrations of cadmium, arsenic, chromium, and lead posing varying levels of health risk. The study highlights that land use patterns significantly influence both microplastic and heavy metal contamination in agricultural water systems.

2026 Environmental Research
Article Tier 2

Preliminary Investigation of Microplastic Pollution in Agricultural Soil in Dong Anh District, Hanoi City

Agricultural soil samples from five sites in suburban Hanoi, Vietnam contained 494 to 1031 microplastic particles per kilogram of dry soil, with PET as the dominant polymer (38%) and fragments as the most common shape. The study provides baseline contamination data for a rapidly urbanizing agricultural region of Southeast Asia where plastic use and waste mismanagement are both growing. Documenting microplastic levels in food-producing soils is a critical first step for assessing dietary exposure risks for local populations.

2023 VNU Journal of Science Earth and Environmental Sciences
Article Tier 2

Time Series approach to map areas of Agricultural Plastic Waste generation

Researchers applied a time-series remote sensing approach to map the spatial distribution of agricultural plastic waste generation across extensive agricultural landscapes, using satellite imagery to detect plastic-mulched farmlands and other agri-plastics to address the lack of comprehensive plasticulture data needed for effective waste management and land-use policy.

2024 ISPRS annals of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences
Article Tier 2

Abundance, spatial distribution, and characteristics of microplastics in agricultural soils and their relationship with contributing factors

Researchers found microplastic concentrations of 2,800 to 82,500 particles per kilogram in agricultural soils of Hainan Island, China, with plastic mulching, farming practices, and environmental factors all contributing to spatial variation in contamination levels.

2022 Journal of Environmental Management 88 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic appraisal of soil, water, ditch sediment and airborne dust: The case of agricultural systems

Researchers surveyed microplastic contamination across agricultural soils, water, airborne dust, and ditch sediments in farm settings with different management practices. They found 11 types of microplastics in soil, with the highest concentrations in fields using plastic mulch, and documented the spread of particles into nearby water bodies and air. The study reveals that both plastic mulch and compost application contribute to microplastic pollution in agricultural landscapes.

2022 Environmental Pollution 69 citations
Article Tier 2

Prevalence of microplastics in agricultural soils in southern Portugal

Researchers conducted the first survey of microplastic contamination in agricultural soils from southern Portugal, collecting samples across four land-use areas with different farming practices and characterizing polymer types and their associations with agricultural history in a Mediterranean system.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Preliminary Assessment of Plastic Litter and Microplastic Contamination in Freshwater Depositional Areas: The Case Study of Puerto Misahualli, Ecuadorian Amazonia

Researchers conducted a preliminary assessment of plastic litter and microplastics in sediments at a riverine depositional area in the Ecuadorian Amazon, finding low-density polyethylene bags as the dominant macroplastic and documenting microplastic presence in an upper Amazon basin location.

2021 Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Occurrence and distribution of microplastics in coastal plain soils under three land-use types

Microplastic abundance and polymer composition were characterized in farmland, plantation, and orchard/secondary forest soils from 33 sites on the east China coastal plain. Farmland soils had significantly higher microplastic abundances than forest soils, with agricultural plastic mulching identified as the primary source of the dominant polyethylene film fragments.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 70 citations
Article Tier 2

Prevalence of microplastics in agricultural soils in southern Portugal

Researchers conducted the first survey of microplastic contamination in agricultural soils from southern Portugal, collecting samples across four land-use areas with different farming practices and characterizing polymer types and their associations with agricultural history in a Mediterranean system.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Composition and spatial distribution of floating plastic debris along the estuarine ecocline of a subtropical coastal lagoon in the Western Atlantic

Researchers found microplastic densities of 7.32 particles per square meter in a subtropical Brazilian coastal lagoon, with plastic filaments — primarily polyester, polypropylene, and polyethylene — being the most abundant type, concentrated near the access channel.

2022 Marine Pollution Bulletin 21 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of land use on the distribution of soil microplastics in the Lihe River watershed, China

Researchers surveyed microplastic contamination across five different land use types in a Chinese river watershed. They found that urban soils had the highest microplastic levels, followed by agricultural areas, with woodland having the lowest, and that population density strongly correlated with microplastic diversity. The study suggests that human activity intensity and plastic waste disposal are the main drivers of soil microplastic pollution at the watershed scale.

2023 Chemosphere 32 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution in Brazil's coastal marine surface waters: The first macroregional baseline from the global south

Researchers conducted the largest microplastic survey in the Global South, sampling 4,134 surface water sites across 7,500 km of Brazilian coastline, finding the highest concentrations in the Eastern Coastline (16.87 MPs/L) and lowest in the Amazonian Equatorial region (1.29 MPs/L), with spatial patterns driven by hydrodynamic conditions, salinity, proximity to sewage, and anthropogenic inputs.

2025 Marine Pollution Bulletin
Article Tier 2

Preliminary results on microplastic pollution from agricultural soil in Vietnam: Distribution, characterization, and ecological risk assessment

This first microplastic survey of Vietnamese agricultural soils found concentrations ranging from 1,700 to 38,800 items per kilogram, with soils near residential areas and manufacturing facilities showing concentrations roughly five times higher than remote agricultural land. Fibers dominated and most particles were under 1 mm, with the majority of sites assessed at hazard level IV — the highest ecological risk category. The study establishes a critical baseline for a country where agricultural plastic use is intensive and growing.

2023 VIETNAM JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Distinct microplastic distributions in soils of different land-use types: A case study of Chinese farmlands

Microplastic distribution across six types of farmland land use was surveyed from soils in five Chinese provinces to determine how agricultural practices shape soil microplastic contamination. The study found that microplastic abundance varied significantly by land-use type, with plastic mulch film use and irrigation practices as key contributing factors.

2020 Environmental Pollution 278 citations