Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Polyethylene and polypropylene microplastics reduce chemisorption of cadmium in paddy soil and increase its bioaccessibility and bioavailability

Researchers found that polyethylene and polypropylene microplastics reduce cadmium chemisorption in paddy soil while increasing its bioaccessibility and bioavailability, suggesting that microplastic contamination in rice paddies could enhance heavy metal uptake by crops and human dietary exposure.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 51 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastispheres as hotspots of microbially-driven methylmercury production in paddy soils

Researchers found that microplastics accumulate in paddy (rice) soil and create hotspots of methylmercury production — a potent neurotoxin — because the microbial communities living on microplastic surfaces (the "plastisphere") are enriched in mercury-methylating bacteria compared to the surrounding soil. This means microplastics in agricultural fields do more than carry chemical additives: they actively amplify the conversion of mercury into its most toxic form, which can then enter rice plants and the human food supply. The findings reveal a previously unrecognized indirect health risk from microplastic contamination of farmland.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Influence of polyethylene-microplastic on environmental behaviors of metals in soil

Researchers investigated how polyethylene microplastics affect the adsorption, desorption, and bioavailability of heavy metals in soil. They found that adding microplastics altered how metals bind to soil particles and increased the mobility of certain metals like cadmium and lead. The study suggests that microplastic contamination in soils may change the environmental behavior of heavy metals, potentially increasing their availability to plants and soil organisms.

2021 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 93 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics shape microbial communities affecting soil organic matter decomposition in paddy soil

Researchers found that microplastics shape soil microbial communities in paddy soils in ways that affect organic matter decomposition, revealing how bacterial succession and carbon cycling are altered by microplastic presence in agricultural systems.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 181 citations
Article Tier 2

Biodegradable polylactic acid microplastics enhance methylmercury production in soils and promote mercury accumulation in rice grains in Northeastern China

Researchers found that biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) microplastics significantly enhanced methylmercury production in paddy field soils, leading to rice grain mercury concentrations approximately six-fold higher than controls, reaching an average of 130.46 µg/kg. PLA-MPs upregulated mercury methylation genes hgcA and hgcB, with Desulfobacterota identified as the predominant methylating taxon, raising serious food safety concerns for PLA use in mercury-contaminated agricultural soils.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials
Article Tier 2

Conventional and biodegradable microplastics affected arsenic mobility and methylation in paddy soils through distinct chemical-microbial pathways

A 98-day paddy soil experiment found that conventional microplastics reduced arsenic in porewater but increased methylated arsenic fractions, while biodegradable microplastics increased both porewater arsenic and methylation, suggesting distinct chemical-microbial pathways affecting arsenic mobility and toxicity.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 9 citations
Article Tier 2

New insights into the decrease in Cd2+ bioavailability in sediments by microplastics: Role of geochemical properties

Researchers investigated how polyethylene terephthalate microplastics alter the geochemical properties of sediments in ways that reduce the bioavailability of cadmium. PET microplastics shifted cadmium from the readily exchangeable fraction to the organically bound fraction, and the associated changes in microbial activity and organic carbon explained much of the reduction in cadmium bioavailability.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 44 citations
Article Tier 2

Dynamic production of hydroxy radicals affects the available Cadmium in paddy soils under microplastic contamination

Researchers showed that polyethylene microplastics amplify hydroxyl radical production in flooded paddy soils through photochemical activation of plastic-derived dissolved organic carbon and iron cycling, raising plant-available cadmium concentrations by up to 4.5-fold and highlighting a previously overlooked mechanism by which microplastics worsen heavy metal contamination in rice fields.

2025 Journal of Environmental Sciences
Article Tier 2

Impact of PVC microplastics on soil chemical and microbiological parameters

Researchers found that PVC microplastics altered soil chemical properties and significantly affected microbial community composition and enzymatic activities in agricultural soil, with effects varying over different incubation periods in microcosm experiments.

2023 Environmental Research 42 citations
Article Tier 2

Dark Reduction of Hg(II) by Dissolved Organic Matter Derived from Aging Microplastics: Mechanisms and Implications

Researchers discovered that dissolved organic matter released from photoaged microplastics can convert toxic mercury into a less reactive form through dark chemical reactions. The organic matter from aged polystyrene, PVC, and polylactic acid reduced over 30% of mercury within 10 minutes, outperforming natural river organic matter. The findings suggest that as microplastic pollution increases in waterways, it may significantly alter mercury cycling in aquatic environments.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Susceptibility of Cd availability in microplastics contaminated paddy soil: Influence of ferric minerals and sulfate reduction

When microplastics and cadmium contaminate paddy soil together — a common situation in agricultural areas — microplastics increase the availability of cadmium to plants, raising the risk of cadmium uptake into food crops like rice. The mechanism involves microplastics releasing dissolved organic matter that disrupts iron mineral cycling and promotes sulfate-reducing bacteria, which in turn mobilize cadmium from soil particles. These findings highlight that microplastic pollution in farmland does not act alone — it can amplify the toxicity of co-occurring heavy metal contaminants.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Polyvinyl chloride microplastics reduce Cd(II) adsorption and enhance desorption with soil-dependent mechanisms

The study investigated how polyvinyl chloride (PVC) microplastics affect cadmium adsorption and desorption in two different soil types. Researchers found that PVC reduced cadmium adsorption and promoted its release back into the soil, potentially increasing its bioavailability and environmental risk.

2024 Environmental Technology & Innovation 15 citations
Article Tier 2

DarkReduction of Hg(II) by Dissolved Organic MatterDerived from Aging Microplastics: Mechanisms and Implications

Researchers investigated dark reduction of mercury (Hg(II)) by dissolved organic matter (DOM) released from aging polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, and polylactic acid microplastics under simulated environmental conditions, revealing that microplastic-derived DOM can mediate Hg(II) transformation through its strong reducing and complexing properties.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Traditional microplastics alter microbial community, metabolites and nutrition in heavy metal-contaminated coastal saline soil

Researchers added three types of microplastics to coastal soil already contaminated with heavy metals (cadmium, copper, and zinc), finding that the plastics altered soil chemistry, shifted microbial communities, disrupted metabolic pathways, and changed how available the toxic metals were to organisms. These findings suggest microplastics can worsen existing heavy metal pollution by changing how metals move through soil ecosystems.

2025 Communications Earth & Environment 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics in soil on the regulation of cadmium bioavailability by biochar

Researchers investigated how biochar amendments affect cadmium bioavailability in soils co-contaminated with microplastics, finding that the presence of microplastics altered cadmium mobility and complicated biochar's remediation effectiveness in ways that depend on the specific MP type present.

2025 Environmental Geochemistry and Health 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Effect of Microplastics on the Bioavailability of (Semi-)Metals in the Soil Earthworm Eisenia fetida

Researchers studied how polystyrene microplastics affect the uptake of cadmium and arsenic by earthworms in paddy soil. They found that microplastics altered the soil chemistry in ways that changed how much of these metals the earthworms absorbed, with effects varying by metal type and concentration. The study suggests that microplastics in contaminated agricultural soils can influence how toxic metals move through the food chain.

2025 Agronomy 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Response of soil heavy metal forms and bioavailability to the application of microplastics across five years in different soil types

Researchers conducted a five-year experiment examining how microplastics affect the chemical forms and bioavailability of heavy metals across five different soil types. They found that microplastics generally reduced the readily available forms of heavy metals while increasing the mineral- and organic-bound forms, and that the bioconcentration of chromium and lead decreased substantially. The study suggests that soil type and exposure duration both play important roles in how microplastics influence heavy metal behavior in soils.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Impacts of polyethylene microplastics on bioavailability and toxicity of metals in soil

Researchers studied how polyethylene microplastics affect the bioavailability and toxicity of copper and nickel in soil using earthworms as test organisms. They found that adding microplastics to contaminated soil increased the bioavailability of the metals and enhanced their toxic effects on the earthworms. The study suggests that microplastics in soil can worsen heavy metal pollution by making metals more accessible and harmful to soil-dwelling organisms.

2020 The Science of The Total Environment 184 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics on nitrogen and phosphorus cycles and microbial communities in sediments

Researchers found that PVC, PLA, and polypropylene microplastics altered nitrogen and phosphorus cycling in freshwater sediments by shifting microbial community composition, with effects varying by polymer type and biodegradability.

2022 Environmental Pollution 107 citations
Article Tier 2

Soil microplastics pollution can reduce viral abundance and have less consistent impacts on bacteria

Researchers exposed soils containing natural microbial communities to polyethylene and PVC microplastics and found that both types consistently reduced viral abundance, while effects on bacteria were more variable, suggesting microplastic pollution may alter the balance of microbial communities that regulate soil processes.

2025 Applied Soil Ecology
Article Tier 2

Typical microplastics in field and facility agriculture dynamically affect available cadmium in different soil types through physicochemical dynamics of carbon, iron and microbes

Researchers found that polyurethane and polypropylene microplastics dynamically affect cadmium availability in different soil types through changes in soil carbon chemistry, iron mineral forms, and microbial community composition, with effects varying between field and greenhouse agricultural conditions.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 37 citations
Article Tier 2

Effect of Microplastics on the Adsorption and Desorption Properties of Cadmium in Soil

Polyethylene and polypropylene microplastics were found to reduce soil's capacity to adsorb cadmium, a toxic heavy metal, raising concerns that microplastic contamination in farmland soils could increase the mobility and risk of heavy metal pollutants.

2022 Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Influences of microplastics types and size on soil properties and cadmium adsorption in paddy soil after one rice season

Researchers grew rice in paddy soil amended with polyethylene, polyacrylonitrile, and PET microplastics of varying sizes and found that microplastic type and particle size significantly altered soil properties and cadmium adsorption capacity, with smaller particles generally having greater effects.

2022 Resources Environment and Sustainability 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Addition of biodegradable microplastics alters the quantity and chemodiversity of dissolved organic matter in latosol

Researchers found that adding biodegradable PBAT microplastics to tropical soil increased microbial and enzyme activity, which in turn altered the quantity and chemical diversity of dissolved organic matter, suggesting biodegradable plastics still significantly affect soil biogeochemistry.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 100 citations