Papers

61,005 results
|
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in the agricultural soils: Pollution behavior and subsequent effects

This review summarizes existing research on how microplastics accumulate in farmland through fertilizers, irrigation, plastic mulch, and atmospheric fallout. Microplastics change soil structure, harm beneficial microbes, and can be taken up by crops, moving through the food chain to humans. The authors emphasize that more research is needed to understand the long-term health risks of eating food grown in microplastic-contaminated soil.

2024 Land Degradation and Development 18 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

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

Microplastics in the food chain

This review examines how microplastics enter and move through the food chain, posing risks to animal health, human wellness, and ecosystems. Researchers found that microplastic contamination has been extensively studied in aquatic environments and marine species, but significant knowledge gaps remain regarding their accumulation and impacts in agricultural soils and plant systems. The study calls for more research on soil microplastic contamination to reduce food chain hazards.

2024 Microplastics 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics on farmland soils and plants: a review

This review synthesized evidence on how microplastics affect farmland soils and crops, examining changes to soil structure, microbial communities, and plant health. The authors document that MPs can enter root systems, alter nutrient uptake, and disrupt soil ecology, with implications for food safety and agricultural productivity.

2025 Plant Soil and Environment
Systematic Review Tier 1

A Systematic Review on Emission, Accumulation, Mechanism, and Toxicity Perspective of Micro‐Nanoplastics in the Soil–Plant Nexus

This systematic review examines how micro- and nanoplastics enter soil, accumulate in plants, and move through the soil-plant system. The research shows that microplastics alter soil properties, affect plant growth, and can be taken up by crop roots and transported to edible plant parts. This is a direct concern for human health because it means microplastics in agricultural soil may end up in the fruits and vegetables people consume.

2025 Land Degradation and Development
Review Tier 2

Microplastic contamination in the agricultural soil—mitigation strategies, heavy metals contamination, and impact on human health: a review

This review examines how microplastics contaminate agricultural soil through plastic mulch, irrigation water, and fertilizers, then alter soil chemistry, harm beneficial microorganisms, and reduce crop productivity. The authors highlight that microplastics can accumulate in crops and enter the human food chain, posing risks to food safety and human health, particularly through daily food and water consumption.

2024 Plant Cell Reports 81 citations
Article Tier 2

Agricultural Microplastics Pollution: From Hidden Threats to Global Food Security Towards Sustainable Strategies

This comprehensive review examines agricultural microplastic pollution across the atmosphere, soil, water, and biological systems, proposing a framework linking farming-derived MP contamination to food security risks and calling for integrated approaches to manage MNPs in agricultural systems.

2025 Plant Cell & Environment
Systematic Review Tier 1

Far‐Reaching Impact of Microplastics on Agricultural Systems: Options for Mitigation and Adaptation

This systematic review examines how microplastics affect agricultural systems, from soil health and crop growth to farm animals and the food consumers eat. The research highlights that microplastic contamination in farming is widespread and may pose risks throughout the food supply chain, making it a concern for anyone who eats conventionally grown food.

2025 Land Degradation and Development 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in terrestrial ecosystem: Exploring the menace to the soil-plant-microbe interactions

This review summarizes existing research on how microplastics affect the complex relationships between soil, plants, and soil microbes. Microplastics alter soil structure, change the makeup of microbial communities, and disrupt beneficial partnerships between plants and helpful fungi and bacteria. These disruptions can reduce plant growth and nutrient cycling, which could ultimately affect crop yields and the quality of food produced on microplastic-contaminated farmland.

2024 TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry 81 citations
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
Article Tier 2

Traversing the prevalence of microplastics in soil-agro ecosystems: Origin, occurrence, and pollutants synergies

This review comprehensively examines microplastic contamination in soil and agricultural ecosystems, covering their origins from sources like plastic mulch, sewage sludge, and irrigation water. Researchers analyzed how microplastics interact synergistically with other pollutants including heavy metals and pesticides in soil environments. The study highlights that the long-term implications of microplastic accumulation in agricultural soils remain uncertain and warrant further investigation to protect food safety.

2024 Journal of Contaminant Hydrology 17 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Contamination across the Soil-Plant-Human Continuum: Mechanisms and Chain-Specific Governance

This perspective synthesized current knowledge on how microplastics move through the soil-plant-human continuum, from contaminated agricultural soils through crop uptake to dietary human exposure. The study highlights that microplastics infiltrate crops via root uptake and foliar deposition, accumulate in edible tissues, and may pose health risks including gastrointestinal accumulation and systemic inflammation upon consumption.

2025 Earth Environmental Sustainability 1 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
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

Impact of Microplastics in Terrestrial Food Production

This chapter reviews how microplastic pollution -- well-studied in marine ecosystems -- affects terrestrial food production, including soil health, plant uptake, and crop contamination. The authors summarize sources, exposure pathways, and implications for food safety and sustainable agriculture.

2024
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 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

Sources, environmental fate, and impacts of microplastic contamination in agricultural soils: A comprehensive review

This review examines how microplastics from fertilizers, irrigation, and atmospheric fallout are contaminating agricultural soils worldwide. Once in the soil, microplastics interact with soil organisms, disrupt plant growth, and can carry other harmful chemicals deeper into the environment. Because these tiny plastics can move up the food chain, they represent a growing threat to both food safety and human health.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 115 citations
Article Tier 2

A critical review of co-pollution of microplastics and heavy metals in agricultural soil environments

This review examines how microplastics and heavy metals frequently occur together in agricultural soil, where they interact in ways that can increase the toxicity of both. These co-contaminants can harm soil organisms, reduce crop productivity, and potentially enter the human food chain, making their combined presence in farmland a growing concern for food safety and health.

2024 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 26 citations
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 Impact of Microplastics on Global Food Production: A Brief Overview of This Complex Sector

This overview examines how microplastics affect global food production across terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Researchers report that microplastics can alter soil properties, harm organisms including livestock and pollinators, and accumulate through the food chain to humans. The study suggests that microplastic contamination of food systems is a growing concern that parallels the urgency of climate change.

2023 Microplastics 9 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

Microplastic pollution in soils, plants, and animals: A review of distributions, effects and potential mechanisms

This review covers the distribution and effects of microplastics in soils, plants, and animals, examining how plastic pollution moves through terrestrial ecosystems. Microplastics in soil can alter microbial communities, reduce plant growth, and accumulate in animals that ingest contaminated food or water. The review highlights that land-based microplastic pollution is as serious a concern as ocean contamination and poses direct risks to agriculture and human food safety.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 223 citations