Microplastics as an emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems

By A. A. de Souza Machado, W. Kloas, Christiane Zarfl, Stefan Hempel, Matthias C. Rillig. Global Change Biology, 2018

1,807 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Microplastics (plastics <5 mm, including nanoplastics which are <0.1 μm) originate from the fragmentation of large plastic litter or from direct environmental emission. Their potential impacts in terrestrial ecosystems remain largely unexplored despite numerous reported effects on marine organisms. Most plastics arriving in the oceans were produced, used, and often disposed on land. Hence, it is within terrestrial systems that microplastics might first interact with biota eliciting ecologically relevant impacts. This article introduces the pervasive microplastic contamination as a potential agent of global change in terrestrial systems, highlights the physical and chemical nature of the respective observed effects, and discusses the broad toxicity of nanoplastics derived from plastic breakdown. Making relevant links to the fate of microplastics in aquatic continental systems, we here present new insights into the mechanisms of impacts on terrestrial geochemistry, the biophysical environment, and ecotoxicology. Broad changes in continental environments are possible even in particle‐rich habitats such as soils. Furthermore, there is a growing body of evidence indicating that microplastics interact with terrestrial organisms that mediate essential ecosystem services and functions, such as soil dwelling invertebrates, terrestrial fungi, and plant‐pollinators. Therefore, research is needed to clarify the terrestrial fate and effects of microplastics. We suggest that due to the widespread presence, environmental persistence, and various interactions with continental biota, microplastic pollution might represent an emerging global change threat to terrestrial ecosystems.

Subfields: Biomaterials, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Pollution

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/186ea0bf1869daee4aad1fe9655c4f1d5def3800

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Biomaterials

1. A. Lehmann
2. J. Bergmann
3. A. Wulf
4. Linshan Feng
5. E. Leifheit
6. Yuhuan Sun
7. C. Adams
8. Fayuan Wang

In Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

1. A. Lehmann
2. J. Bergmann
3. A. Wulf
4. Linshan Feng
5. E. Leifheit
6. Yuhuan Sun
7. C. Adams
8. Fayuan Wang

In Pollution

1. A. Lehmann
2. J. Bergmann
3. A. Wulf
4. Linshan Feng
5. E. Leifheit
6. Yuhuan Sun
7. C. Adams
8. Fayuan Wang

Citations in the corpus

• The “Plastisphere” of Biodegradable Plastics Is Characterized by Specific Microbial Taxa of Alpine and Arctic Soils (2020, background): “Most of the attention in research is paid to plastic debris in oceans, while knowledge about the occurrence, fate and potential hazards of landfill waste is scarce and its impact is likely underestimated considerably (de Souza Machado et al., 2018).”
• Toxicity of Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Mammalian Systems (2020, background): “Plastics that are already small in size to begin with, such as those purposefully manufactured in the form of microbeads in skincare products (primary MPs), or those derived from degradation of larger plastic pieces (secondary MPs), permeate both the terrestrial [6] and the marine [7,8] environments”
• Interactions between microplastics and soil fauna: A critical review (2021, background): “In fact, MPs can enter the soil through multiple pathways, such as plastic mulching, the application of biosolids, and atmospheric deposition, and potentially threaten terrestrial ecosystems (de Souza Machado et al., 2018; Rillig, 2012; M. C. Rillig et al., 2017; Rillig et al., 2019).”