What is it about?
Plastic is a very common material used in numerous daily activities. Their persistence is in some cases an advantage, however, when plastics are discarded this characteristic is a big environmental problem. Plastic products are degraded and their size decreased until a microscopic size that accumulates in soils. Then, soil microplastics are detected as organic carbon using traditional methods, like it was natural from the soil. In this work were measured both contributions of microplastics and total hydrocarbons and then were estimated the content of carbon of the two sources.
Featured Image
Photo by Antoine GIRET on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Microplastic particles accumulate in soils and they can affect the functioning and biodiversity of there. Because soil organic carbon is the principal indicator for knowing the soil quality any non-natural source should be studied. In addition, carbon storage is crucial for climate regulation, biomass production, storage and filtration of water, the cycle of nutrients, and biological habitat. The presence of microplastics affects the biophysical properties of the soil, and the activity of microbes and plants.
Perspectives
I hope that this work contributes to the line of research on microplastics and their effects on the environment. In the future, our research group will be glad to share new advances.
Victor Aquino
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Microplastics and hydrocarbons in soils: Quantification as an anthropic carbon source, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, October 2022, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/ieam.4694.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
