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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Tire Wear Particles Inhibit Tomato Growth and Disrupt Rhizosphere Microbial Function
ClearTire abrasion particles negatively affect plant growth even at low concentrations and alter soil biogeochemical cycling
Researchers found that tire abrasion particles—a major source of microplastic pollution on land—negatively affected plant growth and disrupted soil nutrient cycling even at low concentrations. This is concerning because tire particles are shed in enormous quantities on roads and accumulate in roadside soils where plants grow.
Tire abrasion particles negatively affect plant growth even at low concentrations and alter soil biogeochemical cycling
Tire wear particles at environmentally relevant concentrations reduced plant growth, lowered seed germination rates, and altered soil nitrogen and carbon cycling biogeochemical processes even at the lowest doses tested, suggesting that tire-derived microplastics pose a real risk to terrestrial plant productivity and ecosystem function.
Beyond Microplastics: How Tire Wear Particles Influence Plant Performance
Scientists reviewed research on tiny particles that come off car tires when we drive, which end up in soil everywhere and are different from regular plastic pollution. These tire particles release toxic chemicals that can harm plants by damaging their roots and changing the soil around them, which could affect our food supply. This matters because tire pollution is everywhere but has been overlooked compared to other types of plastic pollution, and we need more research to understand the long-term risks to crops and ecosystems.
Impact of tire particles and tire leachate contaminants on plant physiology and soil health: Case study in mung bean and tomato
Researchers compared how tire particles and tire leachate affect two crop species, finding that tomatoes mount a successful antioxidant defense and maintain growth while mung beans suffer severe oxidative damage and chlorophyll loss, and that the water-soluble leachate fraction poses the greatest acute risk — underscoring the need for species-specific risk assessment of tire-derived pollution near agricultural land.
Co-exposure to tire wear particles and nickel inhibits mung bean yield by reducing nutrient uptake
Researchers grew mung bean plants for a full lifecycle in soil contaminated with tire wear particles and nickel, finding that tire particles alone reduced crop yields by up to 52%. When combined with high levels of nickel, a heavy metal, yields dropped by as much as 88%. This study shows that tire-derived microplastics in agricultural soil can significantly reduce food production and, when mixed with other pollutants, the damage is far worse than either contaminant alone.
The Influence of Microplastics from Ground Tyres on the Acute, Subchronical Toxicity and Microbial Respiration of Soil
Researchers assessed the toxicity of ground tire microplastics on soil organisms and microbial respiration, finding subchronic phytotoxicity effects that highlight the environmental risks posed by tire wear particles accumulating in soils.
Toxicity of two different size classes of tire particles from mixed end-of-life car tires to the springtail Sinella curviseta
Researchers tested two size classes of tire particles on springtails, small soil-dwelling organisms, and found that while both sizes affected reproduction, the smaller particles caused more severe growth reductions. The tire particles released zinc into the soil, but the measured zinc levels alone did not fully explain the toxicity observed. The study suggests that tire wear particles harm soil organisms through a combination of chemical leaching and other particle-related effects.
Tire wear particles: An emerging threat to soil health
This review examines tire wear particles as an emerging source of soil contamination, finding that these microplastics contain a complex mixture of rubber, metals, and organic chemicals that can harm soil organisms. Researchers highlight that most current studies focus on individual species, which may underestimate the cascading effects on entire soil ecosystems. The study warns that tire wear particles could alter essential soil processes and ecosystem services, representing a significant but underappreciated threat to soil health.
Exploring the impacts of microplastics and associated chemicals in the terrestrial environment – Exposure of soil invertebrates to tire particles
Researchers exposed three species of soil invertebrates to ground-up tire particles and found that at concentrations similar to those found near roadsides, the particles reduced reproduction and survival in springtails and suppressed enzyme activity in woodlice. The tire particles contained high levels of zinc and various organic pollutants. The study suggests that tire wear microplastics, one of the largest sources of environmental microplastic, can have measurable harmful effects on soil-dwelling organisms.
Tire wear particles: An emerging threat to soil health
This review synthesizes knowledge about tire wear particles — a major but often overlooked source of microplastic-like pollutants — in soil ecosystems. Tire wear particles contain toxic metals and organic compounds that harm soil microbes, invertebrates, and plants, but most research to date has focused on aquatic systems rather than soils.
[Effects of Tire Wear Particles on Seedling Growth of Kidney Bean （Phaseolus vulgaris L.） and Soil Antibiotic Resistance Gene Abundance].
Researchers studied how tire wear particles, a major source of microplastics, affect kidney bean seedling growth and antibiotic resistance genes in soil. The study found that tire wear particles impaired root development by up to 49% and fresh weight by up to 48%, while also significantly increasing the abundance of antibiotic resistance genes in soil, including high-risk genes linked to drug-resistant bacteria.
Effect of tire wear particle accumulation on nitrogen removal and greenhouse gases abatement in bioretention systems: Soil characteristics, microbial community, and functional genes
This study found that tire wear particles, a major type of microplastic in road runoff, significantly reduced the ability of bioretention systems (rain garden-like structures) to remove nitrogen from stormwater. The tire particles changed the soil's microbial communities, reducing populations of bacteria that process nitrogen and altering greenhouse gas emissions. Since bioretention systems are widely used to treat urban stormwater before it enters waterways, this research shows that tire-derived microplastics can undermine water treatment efforts.
Toxicity of tire wear particles and the leachates to microorganisms in marine sediments
Researchers investigated the toxicity of tire wear particles and their chemical leachates on bacteria in marine sediments. The study found that aged tire wear particles were more toxic than pristine ones, and that leachates were even more harmful than the particles themselves, with zinc identified as the primary toxicity-causing substance.
Uptake of tire-derived compounds in lettuce under realistic growing conditions
Researchers grew lettuce under realistic agricultural conditions and measured uptake of tire-derived compounds including 6PPD-quinone and benzothiazole, finding detectable concentrations in plant tissues and raising food safety concerns about tire wear particle contamination in agricultural soils.
Soil Storage Conditions Alter the Effects of Tire Wear Particles on Microbial Activities in Laboratory Tests
Researchers found that soil storage conditions in the laboratory — including room temperature, low temperature, air drying, and heat drying — significantly alter microbial activity and therefore affect the measured toxicity of tire wear particles on soil microbiomes.
Integrating metabolomics and high-throughput sequencing to investigate the effects of tire wear particles on mung bean plants and soil microbial communities.
Tire wear particles at realistic concentrations (0.1-1.5% soil weight) inhibited mung bean growth, altered root metabolite profiles, and shifted soil microbial community structure, indicating that road-derived plastic contaminants can disrupt soil-plant systems in agricultural settings.
Toxicity assessment of tire particles released from personal mobilities (bicycles, cars, and electric scooters) on soil organisms
Researchers assessed the toxicity of tire particles from bicycles, cars, and electric scooters on plants and springtails over 28 days. The laboratory-generated tire particles exhibited adverse effects that varied depending on the tire type and test species. The study highlights that tire wear particles from personal mobility devices are a significant source of microplastic contamination in soil environments with measurable ecological impacts.
Evidence of impact of tire wear particles on a roadside plant community at environmentally relevant concentrations
This experiment exposed mixed roadside plant communities to tire wear particles (TWPs) — a major source of microplastic pollution near roads — across a wide range of concentrations and found that TWPs shifted competitive dynamics between plant species in ways that were invisible when species were grown alone. One species gained biomass while a neighboring species lost it, suggesting TWPs alter soil chemistry and root interactions rather than simply suppressing all plant growth equally. These subtle community-level effects could erode the ecological value of roadside vegetation over time.
Effects of tire particles on earthworm (Eisenia andrei) fitness and bioaccumulation of tire-related chemicals.
Laboratory experiments showed that tire and road wear particles (TRWPs) impaired earthworm (Eisenia andrei) fitness—reducing reproduction and growth—and led to bioaccumulation of tire-related chemicals in worm tissues. The study provided evidence that TRWPs pose risks to soil invertebrates and the ecosystem functions they support.
Aging increases the particulate- and leachate-induced toxicity of tire wear particles to microalgae.
Researchers found that environmental aging of tire wear particles increases their toxicity to marine microalgae beyond that of fresh particles, with aged particles triggering greater oxidative stress, photosynthesis disruption, and metabolic changes in the algae.
Effects of tire wear particles on the water retention of soils with different textures in the full moisture range
Tire wear particles added to soils at concentrations of 1-16% by weight reduced soil water retention capacity across multiple soil textures, suggesting that tire-derived microplastic pollution may impair the hydrological function of contaminated soils.
Delivery rate alters the effects of tire wear particles on soil microbial activities
Researchers tested whether tire wear particles — tiny rubber and chemical fragments shed when tires roll on roads — affect soil microbes differently depending on how quickly they accumulate, and found that gradual delivery disrupted carbon-cycling enzymes while abrupt delivery hit nitrogen-cycling enzymes harder. The finding matters because rainfall naturally delivers tire particles in pulses, meaning real-world soil impacts may look different from what standard lab tests predict.
Uptake of tire-derived compounds in leafy vegetables and implications for human dietary exposure
Scientists measured tire-derived chemicals in commercial leafy vegetables from four countries and found six different tire compounds present, including some linked to toxicity in aquatic life. Tire particles are one of the most common types of microplastic in the environment, and their chemical additives can be taken up by food crops through contaminated soil and water. While the estimated daily intake from vegetables alone was relatively low, this study confirms that tire-related microplastic pollution is entering the human food supply.
Delivery rate alters the effects of tire wear particles on soil microbial activities
Researchers examined how different delivery rates of tire wear particles affect soil microbial activity, since precipitation transports these particles from roads to adjacent soils at varying intensities. The study found that delivery rate significantly alters the magnitude of tire wear particle effects on soil microbial communities.