Conventional and biodegradable agricultural microplastics: effects on soil properties and microbial functions across a European pedoclimatic gradient

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14310%2F25%3A00142444" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14310/25:00142444 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749125015866?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" >https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749125015866?via%3Dihub</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2025.127212" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.envpol.2025.127212</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Conventional and biodegradable agricultural microplastics: effects on soil properties and microbial functions across a European pedoclimatic gradient

Original language description

Agricultural plastics like mulching films may become a major source of microplastic (MP) soil contamination during their degradation and fragmentation. This study investigates the effects of agricultural MPs from conventional (linear low-density polyethylene, PE) and biodegradable (starch-blended polybutylene adipate coterephthalate, PBAT-BD) mulching films on soil physicochemical properties, aggregation, microbial diversity and functions, litter decomposition, and greenhouse gases emissions (GHG). For this purpose, MPs were mixed into soils at realistic MP concentrations of 0.005 % and 0.05 % (w/w) in 2022 on experimental plots in three EU countries representing different pedoclimatic conditions (Finland, Germany and Spain), followed by monitoring of the above-mentioned variables in the subsequent growing seasons 2022 and 2023. We found several significant MP-induced effects for soil properties, aggregation, microbial diversity, litter decomposition, and GHG, but the effect endpoints were less pronounced or varied considerably. Contrarily, microbial activity, contributing to soil functions such as nitrogen cycling, was consistently reduced by both conventional and biodegradable MPs. The reductions were more pronounced after the second season and for the higher MP treatment. As the higher MP concentration (i.e., 0.05 % w/w) is environmentally relevant in Europe, our findings emphasize the potential effects of environmentally relevant MP concentrations on soil health. Furthermore, the effects increased from north to south, probably modulated by varying pedoclimatic conditions, inducing reflection of a need for regionally tailored risk assessment to protect soil from plastic pollution.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10511 - Environmental sciences (social aspects to be 5.7)

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Environmental Pollution

ISSN

0269-7491

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

386

Issue of the periodical within the volume

December 2025

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

12

Pages from-to

1-12

UT code for WoS article

001595467400006

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105018170035