Species sensitivity distributions of micro- and nanoplastics in soil based on particle characteristics

Abstract

Micro- and nanoplastics are released into the soil through various anthropogenic activities; however, research on ecological risk assessment (ERA) of soil microplastics is limited. In this study, the species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) of representative groups of soil biota were analyzed to determine their sensitivity to microplastic properties. A total of 411 datasets from apical endpoint data within 74 studies were classified and utilized in SSD estimation. The hazardous concentrations for 5% of species for microplastics was 88.18 (40.71–191.00) mg/kg soil. It has been established that small-sized microplastics are more toxic to soil organisms than larger microplastics. Most microplastics were spherical and polystyrene, exhibiting the most adverse effects among all the microplastic types assessed herein. The results suggest that physical characteristics of microplastics are important toxicity determinants in soil ecosystems. Given the potential for adverse environmental effects, further effective management strategies should urgently be employed in these areas. This study provided an integrated perspective of microplastic ecotoxicity in soil. In addition, SSDs were estimated using larger datasets and for more species than in previous studies. This is the first study to consider microplastic properties for estimating SSD.