Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Impact of Major Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) on Soil and Associated Health Issues

This review examines how contaminants of emerging concern, including pharmaceuticals, PFAS, and microplastics, affect soil health and pose associated risks to human well-being. Researchers found that these pollutants threaten soil fertility through mechanisms distinct from traditional contaminants, and their long-term impacts remain poorly understood. The study emphasizes the urgency of developing monitoring frameworks and remediation strategies for these emerging soil threats.

2026 Recent Advances in Food Nutrition & Agriculture
Article Tier 2

Emerging contaminants and their influence on plants: An in-depth review

This review examines how emerging contaminants including microplastics, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and nanomaterials accumulate in soil and affect plant health. The study found these pollutants can disrupt plant growth through various toxic mechanisms and persist in food webs, highlighting the need for effective mitigation strategies to protect crop productivity, soil health, and food security.

2025 Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Contaminants of emerging concern in agricultural soils: Current understanding, overlooked issues, and future priorities

This review synthesizes evidence on how contaminants of emerging concern, including pharmaceuticals, microplastics, and PFAS, enter agricultural soils, accumulate in crops, and affect ecological and human health. The study found that these contaminants pose complex risks including antimicrobial resistance and sublethal impacts on plant and soil systems, while highlighting critical knowledge gaps that need to be addressed.

2026 Plants People Planet
Article Tier 2

Environmental geochemistry of emerging contaminants: impacts on agroecosystem function, food security, and human health

This review examines how emerging contaminants including microplastics, PFAS, pharmaceuticals, and engineered nanomaterials threaten agricultural ecosystems and food safety. Researchers found that these pollutants persist in soil, accumulate in crops, and disrupt beneficial soil organisms, creating complex risks that are difficult to manage with current approaches. The study emphasizes the urgent need for integrated monitoring and remediation strategies to protect both food production and human health.

2026 Environmental Geochemistry and Health 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Emerging Pollutants in Soil and Water: Sources, Risks, and Advances in Removal Technologies for Sustainable Management

This review provides a broad overview of emerging pollutants in soil and water, including pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and microplastics, examining their sources, environmental persistence, and potential health effects. Researchers evaluated various removal technologies ranging from conventional methods to advanced approaches like nanofiltration and bioremediation. The study emphasizes the need for integrated management strategies that combine multiple treatment methods to effectively address these widespread contaminants.

2025 Environmental Management 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro/Nanoplastics in Agricultural Soils and Associated Hazard

This review surveys the sources, distribution, and hazards of micro- and nanoplastics in agricultural soils, with particular attention to how MPs interact with soil organisms, alter nutrient availability, and accumulate in crops in ways that threaten both soil health and food safety.

2025
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
Article Tier 2

Emerging Organic Contaminants

This review examines emerging organic contaminants in soil environments, covering sources, environmental fate, and ecological impacts of pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors, personal care products, and microplastics that contaminate terrestrial ecosystems through agricultural and industrial activity.

2025
Article Tier 2

Do Microplastics and Nanoplastics Pose Risks to Biota in Agricultural Ecosystems?

This review examines the growing presence of micro- and nanoplastics in agricultural soils, estimated at over 0.5 megatons annually. Researchers found that these particles can have varied effects on soil properties, microorganisms, invertebrates, and plants, depending on polymer type, additives, and exposure duration. The study highlights that agricultural soils serve as major reservoirs for plastic pollution and calls for standardized research methods and regulatory guidelines to address the risks to food web safety.

2023 Soil Systems 43 citations
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

Unveiling the Microplastic Menace

This review addresses the growing microplastic menace -- particles 5 mm and smaller -- focusing on how different polymer types interact with soil pollutants and accumulate across environmental compartments. The authors discuss the compounding ecological risks from microplastic co-contamination with heavy metals and other soil pollutants.

2024
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 inAgricultural Soils: Sources, Fate,and Interactions with Other Contaminants

This review examines microplastics as emerging soil contaminants, focusing on their interactions with co-occurring pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides, and antibiotics, and assessing the compound toxic risks these combinations pose to agricultural ecosystems and food safety.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

A review of microplastics in soil: Occurrence, analytical methods, combined contamination and risks

This review provides a comprehensive overview of microplastic pollution in soil ecosystems, covering sources, detection methods, and ecological impacts. Researchers found that soils are major reservoirs for microplastics, and the study highlights how combined contamination with other pollutants like heavy metals and pesticides may amplify risks to soil organisms and food safety.

2022 Environmental Pollution 75 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in soil and freshwater: Understanding sources, distribution, potential impacts, and regulations for management

This review synthesizes knowledge on microplastics in soil and freshwater systems, covering their sources, transport mechanisms, ecological and health impacts, and current regulatory frameworks for managing plastic pollution in terrestrial and aquatic environments.

2022 Science Progress 31 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and Co‐Contaminants in Soil: A Review of Combined Ecological Impact and Emerging Remediation Strategies

This review synthesizes evidence on how microplastics in soil interact with co-contaminants including heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, and persistent organic pollutants, finding that microplastics modify the mobility, bioavailability, and toxicity of these co-occurring pollutants in ways that current risk assessments do not fully capture.

2025 Land Degradation and Development
Article Tier 2

A Critical Perspective on Nanoplastics in Soil and Crop Systems

This critical perspective examines nanoplastics as emerging soil contaminants, reviewing their physicochemical properties, fate in soil systems, interactions with other pollutants, and effects on soil biology and crop growth.

2025 Sustainability Sciences in Asia and Africa
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

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

Microplastics as vectors of antibiotics, heavy metals, and PFAS from agricultural soils to the food chain: Sources, transport pathways, and human health implications

This review examines how microplastics in agricultural soils can adsorb and transport antibiotics, heavy metals, and PFAS chemicals through the food chain to humans. Researchers found that microplastics act as carriers that concentrate these pollutants and facilitate their uptake by crops and livestock. The study highlights the need for better understanding of how plastic particles serve as vectors for multiple contaminants in food systems.

2026 Journal of Hazardous Materials 1 citations
Review Tier 2

Ecological risk assessment of emerging contaminants on soil and terrestrial ecosystems (2005-2024): a bibliometric and scientometric review.

A 20-year (2005–2024) bibliometric review of ecological risk assessment studies on emerging contaminants identified key trends and gaps in understanding the risks of microplastics, pharmaceuticals, and other pollutants to soil and terrestrial ecosystems. The review found rapid growth in the field but persistent data gaps on long-term ecosystem-level effects.

2025 Environmental geochemistry and health
Article Tier 2

Assessment of soil microplastics: An overview on toxicity, effects on heavy metals adsorption, solid-phase extraction, and detection techniques

This review examined how microplastics in soil enter the food chain and pose human health risks, with particular attention to their role as carriers for heavy metals. Agricultural practices like plastic mulching and sewage sludge application were identified as major sources of soil MP contamination.

2025 Sustainable Environment
Meta Analysis Tier 1

Micro/nanoplastics pollution poses a potential threat to soil health

This large meta-analysis of over 5,000 observations found that micro- and nanoplastics in soil harm crop growth, soil organisms, and microbial communities while increasing greenhouse gas emissions. The findings suggest that plastic pollution poses a broad threat to soil health, which could ultimately affect food production and human well-being.

2024 Global Change Biology 57 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental fate, aging, toxicity and potential remediation strategies of microplastics in soil environment: Current progress and future perspectives

This review summarizes what we know about microplastics in soil, including where they come from, how they age and break down, and their toxic effects. As microplastics degrade in the environment, they can release harmful chemicals and help transport other pollutants like heavy metals through the food chain to humans. The paper also explores cleanup strategies, though effective large-scale solutions remain a challenge.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 60 citations