Unravelling the impact of (micro-)plastics in agricultural soils in the Euroregion Galicia and Minho: preliminary results

• Author(s): Marinho Reis, A. Paula ; Gonçalves, Luís Miguel Barros ; Rodríguez Seijo, Andrés
• Date: 2024
• Persistent ID: https://hdl.handle.net/1822/92931
• Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
• Document Type: Other
• Language: English
• Contributor(s): Universidade do Minho

Description

[Excerpt] Plastic has become an essential component of modern agriculture, being used in various farming practices such as coated seeds, mulch film, and biosolid fertilizer. However, studies have shown that plastic waste can have adverse effects on soil health and biodiversity, eventually leading to reduced productivity and threatening long-term food security. As the demand for agricultural land continues to increase and resources become scarce, it is pivotal to prevent further degradation of agricultural soils. Once in the environment, plastics break down into smaller particles due to physical, chemical, or biological factors. These smaller particles, less than 1mm in size and known as microplastics (MP), are an environmental concern because they are spread in all ecosystems. While plastic pollution in marine ecosystems has been studied for over forty years, there has been less focus on microplastic pollution in terrestrial ecosystems.[…]