Perspectives on ecological risks of microplastics and phthalate acid esters in crop production systems

Abstract

Microplastics (MPs) and phthalate acid esters (PAEs) co-occur as emerging contaminants of global importance. Their abundance in soil is of increasing concern as plastic-intensive practices continue. Mulching with plastic films, inclusion in fertilizers, composts, sludge application, and wastewater irrigation are all major and common sources of MPs and PAEs in soil. Here, we review studies on the concentration and effects of MPs and PAEs in soil. While there is limited research on the interactions between MPs and PAEs in agroecosystems, there is evidence to suggest they could mutually affect soil ecology and plant growth. Therefore, we propose new research into 1) establishing an efficient, accurate, and simple method to quantify different types of microplastics in soils and plants; 2) exploring the behavior and understanding the mechanisms of co-transfer, transformation, and interactions with soil biota (especially in vegetable production systems); 3) assessing the risk and consequences of combined and discreet impacts of MPs and PAEs on plants and soil biota, and 4) preventing or reducing the transfer of MPs and PAEs into-and within-the food chain.

Positively Charged Microplastics Induce Strong Lettuce Stress Responses from Physiological, Transcriptomic, and Metabolomic Perspectives

“…MPs occur in the atmosphere from urban to remote areas over the world, with concentrations ranging from a few to several thousand particles m –2 d –1 across different sites . Atmospheric transport of MPs may exist, , as evidenced by the detection of MPs in the atmosphere of suburban, and even remote areas that are far away from source regions of MPs. Due to the lower densities, plastic particulates may stay for a long period in the air, which are easily transported to distant locations .…”

Phthalate esters in municipal sewage treatment plants: occurrence level, removal rate and optimum combination technology

“…However, Since PAEs as additives do not chemically bind to the substrate of materials such as plastics, they are easily released from the substrate and then into the environmental media, such as water (Latini, 2005;Reyes-Contreras et al, 2011;Paluselli et al, 2018;He et al, 2019), soil (Wang et al, 2017;Wang et al, 2022), sediment (Kang et al, 2016), air (Lu and Zhu, 2021), and so on. PAEs have estrogenic activity, which will interfere with the normal endocrine function of organisms after entering the body (Yirun et al, 2021;Barbagallo et al, 2022).…”