National-scale distribution of micro(meso)plastics in farmland soils across China: Implications for environmental impacts

Jiani Hu; Defu He; Xiaoting Zhang; Xinyu Li; Yingxin Chen; Gao Wei; Yalin Zhang; Yong Sik Ok; Yongming Luo

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127283

National-scale distribution of micro(meso)plastics in farmland soils across China: Implications for environmental impacts

J Hazard Mater. 2022 Feb 15;424(Pt A):127283. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127283. Epub 2021 Sep 20.

Authors

Jiani Hu¹, Defu He², Xiaoting Zhang³, Xinyu Li¹, Yingxin Chen¹, Gao Wei³, Yalin Zhang¹, Yong Sik Ok⁴, Yongming Luo⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration, East China Normal University, 500# DongChuan RD, Shanghai 200241, China.
² School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration, East China Normal University, 500# DongChuan RD, Shanghai 200241, China; Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Biotransformation of Organic Solid Waste, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China. Electronic address: dfhe@des.ecnu.edu.cn.
³ School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration, East China Normal University, 500# DongChuan RD, Shanghai 200241, China; Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Biotransformation of Organic Solid Waste, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China.
⁴ Korea Biochar Research Center, APRU Sustainable Waste Management Program & Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, South Korea.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.

PMID: 34564045
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127283

Abstract

Microplastics (MPs) pollution is increasingly appreciated as a significant environmental issue, however, the large-scale pattern of MPs in farmland soils and its associated environmental impacts are unknown. This study investigated a national-scale distribution of micro(meso)plastics (MMPs) in the soil of 30 farmlands across China. The abundance of MMPs in soils was 25.56-2067.78 items kg^-1, with a mean of 358.37 items kg^-1, i.e. 6.79 mg kg^-1 or 0.0007% after mass conversion. MPs accounted for 93.1% of MMPs, the abundance varied greatly among different regions, high in arid or semi-arid north but relatively low in mild southwest regions. Major MPs included polypropylene, polyethylene, and polyester, tending to decrease in abundance from surface to deeper soil layers. Further, meta-analysis revealed that MPs exposure influenced bulk density, soil enzymes including fluorescein diacetate hydrolase (FDAse) and urease, and crop biomass, and minimum effective concentrations (MEC) were in the range of 0.0040-10%. We found that actual abundance in the national-scale soils was lower than MEC, but partly overlapped or close, which implies various degrees of environmental impacts. These findings disclose the national-scale pollution pattern of MPs in farmlands and its latent risks to soil environments and crop growth.

Keywords: Crop biomass; Environmental impacts; Farmland soils; Microplastics; National-scale pattern.

Publication types

Meta-Analysis
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

China
Environmental Monitoring
Farms
Plastics*
Soil*

Substances

Plastics
Soil