FROM SOIL TO CELL: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF THE TROPHIC TRANSFER AND BIOACCUMULATION OF MICROPLASTICS IN THE TERRESTRIAL FOOD WEB

Abstract

The accelerated growth of global plastic production has caused Microplastics to become ubiquitous polluter in land life. Despite the fact that the accumulation of plastic in water bodies has received considerable research, the effects of Microplastics in food web systems fall on land require more research. The systematic review serves as a filling of this lack because it reviews existing information on the movement and collection of Microplastics s in terrestrial food webs without neglecting the processes typically considered in aquatic-biased studies. It traces the Microplastics of primary terrestrial sources, including plastic mulch, sewage sludge, wastewater, and atmospheric deposition, to find their way back into biotic elements of the ecosystem. It also describes the movement of the Microplastics by the food chain such as by root plants via fissures as well as by earthworms and other soil invertebrates by ingestion. On a cellular level, it is demonstrated that Microplastics cause oxidative stress, mitochondrion damage, and change the expression of the critical plant genes. It is worth noting that this review questions the usual interpretation of biomagnification: although Microplastics physically decays at higher trophic levels because of forming an efficient excretion. In water the aquatic aspect is manifested through the fact that terrestrial Microplastics may play the role of a hidden carrier, depositing environmental toxins into lipid-rich tissues, accumulating chemicals to preference peculiar to terrestrial food webs. In turn, the intake of Microplastics posing as individual crops and livestock represents a direct and ongoing path of exposure making it to food safety concerns of great significance and emphasizing the need to timely, uniformly measures the risk assessment.