Papers

20 results
|
Commentary Tier 3

Editorial: Effects of microplastics on soil ecosystems

This editorial introduces a research collection on the effects of microplastics on soil ecosystems, summarising current understanding of how microplastic particles originating from synthetic fibres, microbeads, and fragmented debris accumulate in soils and affect microbial communities, plant growth, soil structure, and water retention. The editorial highlights the importance of soil microbial communities as a key target for assessing the ecosystem-level consequences of microplastic contamination.

2025 Frontiers in Microbiology
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

Microplastic pollution in terrestrial ecosystems: Global implications and sustainable solutions

This review examines microplastic pollution in terrestrial ecosystems, an area that has received far less attention than ocean plastic pollution despite soil being a major sink for these contaminants. The study covers how microplastics interact with other soil pollutants, affect plant growth and soil health, and discusses both policy solutions and practical removal methods to reduce the amount of microplastics that enter the food chain.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 182 citations
Commentary Tier 3

Editorial: Impact of microplastics on soil health and plant physiology in agricultural ecosystems

This editorial introduces a research collection on microplastic impacts in agricultural soil ecosystems, highlighting how plastic contamination alters soil biogeochemical processes, microbial activity, and plant physiology, and calling for a precautionary approach to plastic use in farming.

2025 Frontiers in Plant Science
Article Tier 2

Research on Heavy Metals in Soils and Sediments

Despite its title referencing soil and sediments research, this paper is an editorial introduction to a special journal issue on heavy metals (such as cadmium and lead) in soils — not microplastic pollution. It summarizes 14 studies on trace metal contamination and is not relevant to microplastics or human health.

2025 Soil Systems 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Paving the way toward soil safety and health: current status, challenges, and potential solutions

This review examines the global threats to soil health from industrial chemical contamination and explores potential solutions including monitoring, advanced remediation technologies, and holistic soil management. While covering soil pollution broadly, it is relevant to microplastics because they are a major and growing soil contaminant that is extremely difficult to remove once introduced. The review emphasizes that preventing pollutants from entering soil is far more effective and less costly than trying to clean up contamination afterward.

2024 Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Soil microplastics: we need to pay more attention

This perspective piece argues that soil microplastics deserve greater research attention, noting that soils may act as major reservoirs for microplastic accumulation with significant but understudied consequences for terrestrial ecosystems and human health.

2022 Water Emerging Contaminants & Nanoplastics 5 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
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

Soil Microplastic Pollution and its Remediation: An Overview

This overview reviews the scope of microplastic pollution in soils globally, summarizing contamination sources, effects on soil ecosystems, and available remediation strategies including physical, chemical, and biological approaches to address this emerging environmental problem.

2025 Egyptian Journal of Soil Science
Article Tier 2

A comprehensive review of impacts of soil management practices and climate adaptation strategies on soil thermal conductivity in agricultural soils

This review examines how farming practices like tillage, crop rotation, and mulching affect how well soil conducts heat, which influences crop growth and water availability. While not directly about microplastics, the paper highlights that disrupted soil structure from various agricultural inputs can alter important soil properties, which is relevant as microplastic contamination of farmland soils continues to grow.

2025 Reviews in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Soil Health and Quality in Sustainable Agriculture

This paper is not about microplastics; it is a broad review of soil health and quality principles in sustainable agriculture.

2023 1 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

Towards an ecology of soil microplastics

This perspective paper calls for greater research attention on microplastic pollution in soils, arguing that terrestrial ecosystems may be even more contaminated than aquatic ones but have received far less scientific scrutiny. The authors outline research priorities for understanding microplastic behavior, ecological effects, and food web implications in soil environments.

2019 Functional Ecology 228 citations
Article Tier 2

Issue Information

This paper is not about microplastics; it is a journal issue-information page for Land Degradation & Development describing the scope of that publication.

2023 Land Degradation and Development 1 citations
Article Tier 2

How microplastics are destroying soil and human health

This review examined how microplastics harm soil health — disrupting soil structure, water retention, microbial communities, and nutrient cycling — and how soil degradation translates into risks for human health through food and water contamination. It argues that soil microplastic pollution deserves equivalent attention to aquatic contamination.

2024
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

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

What Do We Know About the Effects of Microplastics on Soil?

This review examines the effects of microplastics on soil ecosystems, covering how mulching, wastewater irrigation, sludge application, and atmospheric deposition introduce microplastics to soil, where they alter physicochemical properties, affect microbial communities, and carry co-pollutants.

2023 3 citations
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