Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics on soil physical, chemical and biological properties

This review examines how microplastics affect soil health, covering their impact on the physical structure, chemical composition, and biological communities of soil ecosystems. Microplastics can alter soil water retention, change nutrient cycling, and harm soil organisms from earthworms to microbes. Since agricultural soils are a major reservoir of microplastics, these changes could affect crop growth and food quality, creating an indirect pathway for microplastic-related harm to human health.

2024 Natural Hazards Research 32 citations
Article Tier 2

Exploring the Impact of Micro-plastics on Soil Health and Ecosystem Dynamics: A Comprehensive Review

This review examines how microplastics affect soil health, finding that they alter soil structure, water retention, and the organisms that live in soil. Microplastics can carry toxic substances into soil and interact with other pollutants to amplify harmful effects on earthworms and soil microbes. Since healthy soil is essential for growing safe food, microplastic contamination of agricultural land could have long-term consequences for the food supply and human health.

2024 Journal of Experimental Biology and Agricultural Sciences 15 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

Specific response of soil properties to microplastics pollution: A review

This review summarizes how microplastic pollution changes the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil. Microplastics can alter soil structure, water retention, and nutrient cycling, and they also affect the communities of microorganisms that keep soil healthy. Since contaminated soil grows our food, these changes could indirectly affect human health through the food supply.

2023 Environmental Research 64 citations
Article Tier 2

Unveiling the impacts of microplastic pollution on soil health: A comprehensive review

This review summarizes research from 2021-2024 on how microplastics in agricultural soil harm crop growth, reduce soil organism survival and reproduction, disrupt microbial communities, and alter nutrient cycling. These soil health impacts are relevant to human health because they can compromise food safety and allow microplastics to enter the food supply through contaminated crops.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 44 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

A discussion of microplastics in soil and risks for ecosystems and food chains

This review examines how microplastics accumulate in soils through agricultural practices, landfills, and wastewater, posing risks to ecosystems and food chains. Researchers found that while marine microplastic pollution has been well studied, terrestrial contamination remains poorly understood despite soil receiving more plastic waste than oceans. The study highlights how microplastics can alter soil properties, harm soil organisms, and potentially transfer through the food chain to humans.

2022 Chemosphere 109 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
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
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

Pay Attention to Research on Microplastic Pollution in Soil for Prevention of Ecological and Food Chain Risks

This review summarizes research on microplastic sources, accumulation, degradation, and ecological effects in agricultural soils, arguing that soil microplastic pollution deserves the same level of attention as marine microplastic pollution. The paper calls for greater investment in understanding how microplastics affect soil organisms, plant health, and food safety in terrestrial food production systems.

2018 Knowledge Repository of Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, CAS (Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research) 48 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

Tiny toxins, big problems: the hidden threat of microplastic in agroecosystems

This review examines the impacts of microplastic contamination in agricultural soils, covering sources from plastic mulch and irrigation, effects on soil structure, water retention, microbial diversity, and nutrient cycling, and consequences for crop health and food safety.

2025 Plant Science Today
Article Tier 2

Ecological Effects of Soil Microplastic Pollution

This review summarizes how microplastics contaminate soils, what effects they have on soil animals and microbes, and how they disrupt carbon and nitrogen cycling. As soils are the base of terrestrial food webs, microplastic-induced changes in soil ecosystems have cascading effects on food safety and human health.

2019 Science Insights 36 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

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

Impact of Microplastics on Soil's Biodiversity and Public Health

This book chapter reviews the impacts of microplastic pollution on soil biodiversity and public health, examining how plastic particles disrupt soil microbial communities, affect soil-dwelling invertebrates, and enter the human food chain through contaminated crops.

2025
Article Tier 2

The impact of microplastics on soil ecosystems: A review

This review examines how microplastics accumulate in soil from sources like sewage sludge, agricultural plastic mulch, and wastewater, and how they affect soil ecosystems. Evidence indicates that microplastics alter soil physical and chemical properties, disrupt microbial communities and enzyme activity, and can harm plant growth and soil organisms. The authors highlight that soil microplastic pollution has received far less research attention compared to aquatic environments, despite its potential consequences for agriculture and food safety.

2024 International Journal of Research in Agronomy 2 citations
Article Tier 2

A review of microplastics in the soil environment

This review summarizes the current state of knowledge about microplastic contamination in soil environments, covering sources, distribution, and effects on soil organisms and ecosystems. The study highlights that while aquatic microplastic research is more advanced, soil contamination poses significant but understudied risks to terrestrial ecosystems and food production.

2021 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of Microplastics on Soil's Biodiversity and Public Health

This book chapter examines how microplastic contamination of soil affects biodiversity—including soil microbes, invertebrates, and plants—and discusses the broader public health implications of agricultural soil pollution and potential pathways of human exposure through food.

2025
Article Tier 2

Recent advances on ecological effects of microplastics on soil environment

This review summarizes recent advances in understanding the ecological effects of microplastics on soil environments. Researchers found that soils serve as major sinks for microplastics, which can alter soil properties, affect plant growth, disrupt soil microbial communities, and interact with other pollutants. The study highlights that terrestrial microplastic pollution may be even more pervasive than aquatic contamination and warrants greater research attention.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 322 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

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

Microplastics in Agricultural Soils: An Emerging Threat to Soil Health, Microbial Ecology, Crop Productivity, and Food Safety

This review examines how microplastics accumulate in agricultural soils from sources like plastic mulch, sewage sludge, and atmospheric deposition. Researchers found that these particles can disrupt soil microbial communities, harm plant health, and potentially enter the human food chain. The study highlights the urgent need for mitigation strategies to address this growing but often overlooked form of pollution in farmland.

2025 International Journal of Plant & Soil Science 4 citations