Papers

61,005 results
|
Article Tier 2

Interaction of Invertebrates and Synthetic Polymers in Soil: A Review

This review summarizes how microplastics in soil harm invertebrates including nematodes, springtails, and earthworms, while some soil animals can fragment or ingest and transport plastic particles. The presence of microplastics in soil disrupts the gut function of soil organisms that play critical roles in maintaining healthy, productive soils.

2020 Russian Journal of Ecology 20 citations
Article Tier 2

What do we know about how the terrestrial multicellular soil fauna reacts to microplastic?

This review analyzed the available literature on how soil-dwelling animals respond to microplastics and found evidence of uptake, bioaccumulation, and harmful effects across many groups including earthworms, springtails, and beetles. Most studies used high concentrations not yet found in real soils, limiting conclusions about current environmental risks.

2020 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic-Earthworm Interactions: A Critical Review

This critical review examines how microplastics from diverse plastic waste categories accumulate in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and interact with earthworms, a key soil organism. The authors synthesize evidence on the deleterious effects of increasing microplastic concentrations on soil properties, microbiota, and earthworm physiology.

2024 International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences 1 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Implication of microplastics on soil faunal communities — identifying gaps of knowledge

This systematic review examines how microplastics in soil affect earthworms, springtails, mites, and other soil-dwelling creatures that are essential for healthy soil. The impacts are highly variable and depend on the type of plastic, particle size, and soil conditions, making broad conclusions difficult. The review identifies critical knowledge gaps, noting that most studies use unrealistically high microplastic concentrations, and calls for research at levels that match actual field conditions.

2022 Emerging Topics in Life Sciences 14 citations
Article Tier 2

The forgotten impacts of plastic contamination on terrestrial micro- and mesofauna: A call for research

This review highlights the overlooked impact of microplastics on tiny soil organisms like mites, springtails, and nematodes that play critical roles in keeping soil ecosystems healthy. Ingesting microplastics can harm their development and reproduction, which disrupts nutrient cycling and soil food webs. Since these organisms help maintain the soil that grows our food, their decline from plastic pollution could have cascading effects on agriculture and human nutrition.

2023 Environmental Research 61 citations
Article Tier 2

Exploring the Impact of Micro-plastics on Soil Health and Ecosystem Dynamics: A Comprehensive Review

This review examines how microplastics affect soil health, finding that they alter soil structure, water retention, and the organisms that live in soil. Microplastics can carry toxic substances into soil and interact with other pollutants to amplify harmful effects on earthworms and soil microbes. Since healthy soil is essential for growing safe food, microplastic contamination of agricultural land could have long-term consequences for the food supply and human health.

2024 Journal of Experimental Biology and Agricultural Sciences 15 citations
Article Tier 2

What do we know about how the terrestrial multicellular soil fauna reacts to microplastic?

This review synthesized studies on how soil-dwelling animals — including earthworms, insects, and mites — respond to microplastic contamination, finding evidence of ingestion, tissue accumulation, and harmful effects across multiple soil organism groups. However, most studies used unrealistically high concentrations, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions about risks at current environmental levels.

2020 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Agricultural Soil: Fate, Impacts, and Bioremediation by Earthworms

This review examines how microplastics accumulate in agricultural soils and the role earthworms may play in breaking them down. Researchers found that microplastics can harm soil health by disrupting microbial communities, enzyme activity, and nutrient availability, but that earthworms can enhance microplastic degradation through their digestive processes and the microorganisms in their gut. The study suggests that earthworm-based bioremediation could be a practical strategy for reducing microplastic contamination in farmland.

2025 Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 2 citations
Article Tier 2

What do we know about how the terrestrial multicellular soil fauna reacts to microplastic?

This review analyzed published studies on how multicellular soil organisms (including earthworms, mites, springtails, and nematodes) ingest and respond to microplastics, finding that most studies used unrealistically high concentrations and that ecologically relevant effects on soil fauna remain poorly characterized.

2020 SOIL 106 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
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

Plastic pollution in terrestrial ecosystems: Current knowledge on impacts of micro and nano fragments on invertebrates

This review summarizes research on how micro- and nanoplastics affect soil-dwelling invertebrates like earthworms and insects, finding that effects vary widely depending on plastic type, shape, concentration, and exposure time. While no broad conclusions could be drawn, the documented sublethal effects on soil organisms could disrupt the soil ecosystems that support the crops humans depend on for food.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 44 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics on soil physical, chemical and biological properties

This review examines how microplastics affect soil health, covering their impact on the physical structure, chemical composition, and biological communities of soil ecosystems. Microplastics can alter soil water retention, change nutrient cycling, and harm soil organisms from earthworms to microbes. Since agricultural soils are a major reservoir of microplastics, these changes could affect crop growth and food quality, creating an indirect pathway for microplastic-related harm to human health.

2024 Natural Hazards Research 32 citations
Article Tier 2

The Impact of Microplastics on Soil Invertebrates

Microplastics have been detected throughout soils worldwide, and this editorial review summarises growing evidence that soil invertebrates — including earthworms, springtails, and beetles — ingest, accumulate, and are harmed by microplastic particles. Effects range from physical gut damage and reduced feeding to reproductive impairment, with cascading risks to soil health, nutrient cycling, and the broader food web. This matters because soil invertebrates are keystone organisms; harm to them can degrade the agricultural and ecological services that soils provide.

2024 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in soils: Production, behavior process, impact on soil organisms, and related toxicity mechanisms

This review examines how microplastics enter and persist in soils, covering their sources from agricultural plastics, irrigation water, and atmospheric deposition. Researchers found that microplastics can alter soil structure, affect nutrient cycling, and harm soil organisms like earthworms and microbes. The study highlights significant gaps in understanding the long-term ecological consequences of soil microplastic contamination.

2023 Chemosphere 29 citations
Article Tier 2

Current Research Trends on the Effects of Microplastics in Soil Environment Using Earthworms: Mini-Review

This mini-review summarizes current research on how microplastics affect earthworms in soil environments, covering effects on growth, reproduction, gut microbiota, and soil physicochemical properties.

2021 Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Systematical review of interactions between microplastics and microorganisms in the soil environment

This review explores interactions between microplastics and microorganisms in soil environments. Researchers found that microplastics pose a threat to the survival and reproduction of soil microbiota, but that soil microorganisms also show potential for degrading and mineralizing microplastic particles, suggesting possible biological pathways for microplastic remediation in terrestrial ecosystems.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 319 citations
Article Tier 2

Interactions of Microplastics Toward an Ecological Risk in Soil Diversity

This review examines the ecological risks of microplastics in soil environments, discussing their sources, global distribution, mechanisms of entry into soil food webs, effects on microbial communities and soil fauna, biomagnification through trophic levels, and implications for soil ecosystem services and biodiversity.

2022 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Soils in distress: The impacts and ecological risks of (micro)plastic pollution in the terrestrial environment

This review examines how microplastics affect soil ecosystems, including their transport into soils, changes they undergo in the environment, and their interactions with soil organisms. The effects depend heavily on the type, shape, size, and amount of plastic particles present. Understanding these impacts is important because soil contamination with microplastics can affect food production and ultimately human exposure through the food chain.

2023 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 93 citations
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 agricultural soils: sources, impacts on soil organisms, plants, and humans

This review examines how microplastics get into farm soils from sources like plastic mulching, wastewater, and fertilizers, and how they affect soil organisms, plant growth, and ultimately human health. The research shows microplastics can damage crop roots, harm earthworms and soil life, and when they enter the food chain, may cause liver damage, inflammation, and immune system problems in people.

2025 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of Microplastics on Soil's Biodiversity and Public Health

This book chapter reviews the impacts of microplastic pollution on soil biodiversity and public health, examining how plastic particles disrupt soil microbial communities, affect soil-dwelling invertebrates, and enter the human food chain through contaminated crops.

2025
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

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