Microplastics as an emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems
Tóm tắt
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.
Từ khóa
Tài liệu tham khảo
(Contam) EPOCITFC, 2016, Presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in food, with particular focus on seafood, EFSA Journal, 14, 4501
Lachenmeier D. W., 2015, Microplastic identification in German beer – an artefact of laboratory contamination?, Deutsche Lebensmittel‐Rundschau, 111, 4
Lwanga E. H., 2017, Field evidence for transfer of plastic debris along a terrestrial food chain, Scientific Reports, 7, 7
Mani T., 2015, Microplastics profile along the Rhine River, Scientific Reports, 5, 7, 10.1038/srep17988
Plasticseurope(2015).Plastics — The Facts 2014/2015.
Programme UNE, 2014, Year book: Emerging issues in our global environment
Whitacre D. M., 2014, Reviews of environmental contamination and toxicology, 227, 10.1007/978-3-319-03777-6