Papers

61,005 results
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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

Micro and nano-plastics on environmental health: a review on future thrust in agro-ecotoxicology management

This review examines the growing body of evidence on how microplastics and nanoplastics affect plant health, soil microbial communities, and agricultural productivity. The study highlights that plastic accumulation in agricultural soils can alter crop growth and yield while disrupting soil ecosystem dynamics, and calls for greater attention to agro-ecotoxicology management to address these emerging threats to food production.

2025 Environmental Geochemistry and Health 1 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

Microplastics in plant-microbes-soil system: A review on recent studies

This review examined microplastic interactions within the plant-microbe-soil system, finding that microplastics affect soil physicochemical properties, alter microbial communities, and can be taken up by plants, with implications for food safety and ecosystem health.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 111 citations
Article Tier 2

The Effect of Microplastic Pollution on Soil, Plants and Soil Microbes and Its Remediation

This review summarized evidence for microplastic effects on soil properties, plant growth, soil microbes, and food safety, identifying microplastic pollution as a significant emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems. The authors also reviewed bioremediation and physical removal strategies as potential remediation approaches.

2022 Egyptian Journal of Soil Science 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Origin and Effects of Microplastics on Soil Health, Microbial Community and Plants

This review covers the origins, migration pathways, and ecological effects of microplastics in soil ecosystems, synthesizing research on impacts to soil health, microbial communities, plant growth, and trophic transfer through food chains. The authors highlight the relatively limited understanding of soil microplastic ecology compared to aquatic environments.

2024 Indian Journal of Pure & Applied Biosciences
Review Tier 2

Migration and toxicology of microplastics in soil: A review

This review examines how microplastics migrate through soil, summarizes their known toxic effects on soil organisms and plants, and identifies key gaps in current understanding. Soils are increasingly recognized as major microplastic repositories, and their contamination has implications for food safety and ecosystem health.

2019 Environment International
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in terrestrial environments: Reviewing current understanding to determine the positive and negative aspects of soil

This review examines microplastics in terrestrial soils, covering their sources, distribution, and effects on soil health and organisms. It finds both negative impacts on soil function and organisms, as well as some neutral or context-dependent effects, and identifies key areas for future research.

2023 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Microplastic: Evaluating the Impact on Soil-Microbes and Plant System

This review examines how microplastics affect soil microbial communities and plant systems in agricultural settings, documenting impacts on soil health, microbial diversity, and crop physiology. As microplastics accumulate in farmland soils through irrigation, sludge application, and plastic mulches, their effects on the soil ecosystem that underpins food production are a growing concern.

2023 ACS symposium series 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in agroecosystems: A review of effects on soil biota and key soil functions

This review examines how microplastic and nanoplastic contamination in agricultural soils affects soil organisms and ecological functions. Researchers found that plastics enter farmland through multiple pathways including plastic mulch, sewage sludge, and irrigation water, and once present they alter soil properties and exhibit toxic behavior toward soil biota. The study identifies significant knowledge gaps about the long-term impacts of microplastic accumulation on agricultural productivity and food safety.

2022 Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 79 citations
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

Micro (nano) plastic pollution: The ecological influence on soil-plant system and human health.

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics affect soil health, plant growth, and food quality, finding that these particles accumulate in plant root systems and can reduce crop yields and alter nutritional content. Since contaminated soil and water are increasingly delivering microplastics to food crops, these findings are directly relevant to agricultural food safety.

2021 The Science of the total environment
Article Tier 2

Current Status and Future Challenges of Microplastics in the Agroecosystems

This review examines the current status and future challenges of microplastic contamination in agroecosystems, focusing on how microplastics alter soil biogeochemical processes, microbial community dynamics, and plant-soil health. Researchers found that microplastics create microbial hotspots, cause physical and chemical damage to soil organisms, and introduce carbon inputs that complicate ecosystem function assessments.

2022 Advances in human services and public health (AHSPH) book series
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

Occurrence and Ecological Impacts of Microplastics in Soil Systems: A Review

This review provides a comprehensive overview of microplastic occurrence and ecological impacts in soil systems, an area that has received less scientific attention than aquatic environments. Researchers summarized how microplastics enter soils through agricultural films, biosolids, and irrigation, and how they affect soil organisms, nutrient cycling, and plant health. The study predicts a rapid increase in soil microplastic research and calls for standardized methods to assess the risks.

2019 Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 351 citations
Article Tier 2

Can microplastics mediate soil properties, plant growth and carbon/nitrogen turnover in the terrestrial ecosystem?

This review assessed evidence for microplastic effects on soil properties, plant growth, and carbon and nitrogen cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Microplastics were found to alter soil structure, water retention, microbial activity, and nutrient cycling, with cascading effects on plant growth and soil organic matter turnover.

2022 Ecosystem Health and Sustainability 51 citations
Article Tier 2

Research progress of microplastics in soil-plant system: Ecological effects and potential risks

This review discussed the ecological effects and potential risks of microplastics in the soil-plant system, covering impacts on soil aggregates, nutrient cycling, and the combined effects of microplastics with other pollutants on plant growth and soil health.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 218 citations
Article Tier 2

Effect of Microplastic Pollution on Soil, Plants, and Soil Microbes

This review examines how microplastic debris smaller than 5 mm affects soil physical properties, plant growth, and soil microbial communities, with particles dispersing easily through the environment and entering the food chain at multiple trophic levels. The authors discuss mechanisms of soil and plant toxicity and the broader ecological risks of microplastic accumulation in agricultural systems.

2024
Article Tier 2

Impact of microplastics on terrestrial ecosystems: A plant-centric perspective

This review focuses on how microplastics affect plants and soil health in agricultural settings, an area that has received less attention than marine microplastic pollution. The researchers describe how microplastics can alter soil structure, disrupt microbial communities, and enter plant tissues through unique transport mechanisms. The study highlights that agricultural soils are a major sink for microplastics, with potential consequences for food safety and crop productivity.

2024 Environmental Pollution and Management 7 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

Microplastic Contamination in Agricultural Soils: Impacts on soil properties and plant performance

This review synthesized research on microplastic contamination in agricultural soils, examining how MPs affect soil physical properties, chemistry, and plant growth performance. It identified key knowledge gaps around MP accumulation rates, long-term soil effects, and impacts on food crop yields.

2025 University of Southern Queensland research data collection
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in terrestrial environments: Reviewing current understanding to determine the positive and negative aspects of soil

This review examines microplastics in terrestrial soils, covering sources, distribution, and effects on soil health and organisms. It finds both negative impacts — reduced soil function, harm to earthworms and plants — and some neutral effects, highlighting significant research gaps.

2023 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Soil–Plant Systems: Current Knowledge, Research Gaps, and Future Directions for Agricultural Sustainability

This review summarizes current knowledge about how microplastics affect agricultural soils and the plants growing in them, including changes to soil structure, nutrient availability, and root zone biology. Understanding how microplastics move through the soil-plant system is critical because contaminated crops are a major pathway for these particles to reach the human diet.

2025 Agronomy 19 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