ArticleEnvironmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987)2018
Microplastic and soil protists: A call for research.
Article in Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Protist-mediated microbiome governance: Integrating trophic ecology, rhizosphere biology, and biotechnological potential.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2026Review
- Phenotypic and Physiological Responses of Rice Seedlings to Co-Exposure of Polystyrene Microplastics and Heavy Metals.Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Microplastic-Bacteria Interactions: Toxicity, Colonisation, Degradation and Prospects.Environmental microbiology · 2026Review
- Biodegradable plastic exposure enhances microbial functional diversity while reducing taxonomic diversity across multi-kingdom soil microbiota in cherry tomato fields.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Untargeted metabolomics and transcriptomics joint analysis of the effects of polystyrene nanoplastics on lipid metabolism in the mouse liver.Lipids in health and disease · 2025Article
- Nitrogen Fertilization Alleviates Microplastic Effects on Soil Protist Communities and Rape (Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Impact of Polystyrene Micro- and Nanoplastics on the Biological Traits of the Japanese Carpenter Ant,Insects · 2025Article
- Factors Influencing the Vertical Migration of Microplastics up and down the Soil Profile.ACS omega · 2024Review
- Occurrence of microplastics in edible tissues of livestock (cow and sheep).Environmental science and pollution research international · 2024Article
- Risks Associated with the Presence of Polyvinyl Chloride in the Environment and Methods for Its Disposal and Utilization.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Fate of microplastics under the influence of climate change.iScience · 2023Review
- Implementation of jute-based nose holder in surgical masks to reduce plastic contamination.Heliyon · 2023Article
- PHA-Based Bioplastic: a Potential Alternative to Address Microplastic Pollution.Water, air, and soil pollution · 2023Review
- Microbial community shifts induced by plastic and zinc as substitutes of tire abrasion.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Abundance and distribution characteristics of microplastic in plateau cultivated land of Yunnan Province, China.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2021Article
- Article
- Biodegradation of Polyethylene byInternational journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- Resource or waste? A perspective of plastics degradation in soil with a focus on end-of-life options.Heliyon · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Microplastic is an emerging contaminant of concern in soils globally, probably gradually increasing in soil due to slow degradation. Few studies on microplastic effects on soil biota are available, and no study in a microplastic contamination context has specifically addressed soil protists. Soil protists, a phylogenetically and functionally diverse group of eukaryotic, unicellular soil organisms, are major consumers of bacteria in soils and are potentially important vehicles for the delivery of microplastics into the soil food chain. Here we build a case for focusing research on soil protists by drawing on data from previous, older studies of phagocytosis in protist taxa, which have long made use of polystyrene latex beads (microspheres). Various soil-borne taxa, including ciliates, flagellates and amoebae take up microplastic beads in the size range of a few micrometers. This included filter feeders as well as amoebae which engulf their prey. Discrimination in microplastic particle uptake depended on species, physiological state as well as particle size. Based on the results of the studies we review here, there is now a need to study microplastic effects in a pollution ecology context: this means considering a broad range of particle types under realistic conditions in the soil, and exploring longer-term effects on soil protist communities and functions.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.