The GEOHAZARDS project has produced an interesting study on the effect of microplastics on the reproduction of the soil microorganism Enchytraeus crypticus. The work was done at RECETOX (Masaryk University) in collaboration with Finnish Environment Institute, Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment and the Faculty of Science (Charles University).
The results showed that polyethylene had a greater impact on the reproduction of the studied microorganisms than biodegradable microplastics. Reproduction was reduced by more than 50% at 5% polyethylene concentration, with the second generation being more sensitive than the first. The addition of microplastics changed soil properties such as water holding capacity and pH, but these changes were not large enough to affect reproduction. The study highlights the need for long-term toxicity testing to properly assess the risks associated with plastics in agriculture and protect soil quality.
The article Microplastics originated from agricultural mulching films affect enchytraeid multigeneration reproduction and soil properties was published in Journal of Hazardous Materials 479 by Klára Šmídová, Salla Selonen, Cornelis A.M. van Gestel, Petr Fleissig and Jakub Hofman (DOI).
