Opening Space for Plastics—Why Spatial, Soil and Land Use Data Are Important to Understand Global Soil (Micro)Plastic Pollution
After five years of research on microplastic pollution of soils it becomes obvious that soil systems act as a reservoir for microplastics on global scales. Nevertheless, the exact role of soils within global microplastic cycles, plastic fluxes within soils and environmental consequences are so far o...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Microplastics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8929/1/4/42 |
| _version_ | 1827623097437519872 |
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| author | Collin J. Weber Moritz Bigalke |
| author_facet | Collin J. Weber Moritz Bigalke |
| author_sort | Collin J. Weber |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | After five years of research on microplastic pollution of soils it becomes obvious that soil systems act as a reservoir for microplastics on global scales. Nevertheless, the exact role of soils within global microplastic cycles, plastic fluxes within soils and environmental consequences are so far only partly understood. Against the background of a global environmental plastic pollution, the spatial reference, spatial levels, sampling approaches and documentation practices of soil context data becomes important. Within this review, we therefore evaluate the availability of spatial MP soil data on a global scale through the application of a questionnaire applied to 35 case studies on microplastics in soils published since 2016. We found that the global database on microplastics in soils is mainly limited to agricultural used topsoils in Central Europe and China. Data on major global areas and soil regions are missing, leading to a limited understanding of soils plastic pollution. Furthermore, we found that open data handling, geospatial data and documentation of basic soil information are underrepresented, which hinders further understanding of global plastic fluxes in soils. Out of this context, we give recommendations for spatial reference and soil context data collection, access and combination with soil microplastic data, to work towards a global and free soil microplastic data hub. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:38:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d730280c33c046a498caeee16ec4bab0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-8929 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:38:38Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Microplastics |
| spelling | doaj.art-d730280c33c046a498caeee16ec4bab02023-11-30T23:38:22ZengMDPI AGMicroplastics2673-89292022-10-011461062510.3390/microplastics1040042Opening Space for Plastics—Why Spatial, Soil and Land Use Data Are Important to Understand Global Soil (Micro)Plastic PollutionCollin J. Weber0Moritz Bigalke1Department of Soil Mineralogy and Soil Chemistry, Institute for Applied Geosciences, Technical University of Darmstadt, Schnittspahnstraße 9, 64287 Darmstadt, GermanyDepartment of Soil Mineralogy and Soil Chemistry, Institute for Applied Geosciences, Technical University of Darmstadt, Schnittspahnstraße 9, 64287 Darmstadt, GermanyAfter five years of research on microplastic pollution of soils it becomes obvious that soil systems act as a reservoir for microplastics on global scales. Nevertheless, the exact role of soils within global microplastic cycles, plastic fluxes within soils and environmental consequences are so far only partly understood. Against the background of a global environmental plastic pollution, the spatial reference, spatial levels, sampling approaches and documentation practices of soil context data becomes important. Within this review, we therefore evaluate the availability of spatial MP soil data on a global scale through the application of a questionnaire applied to 35 case studies on microplastics in soils published since 2016. We found that the global database on microplastics in soils is mainly limited to agricultural used topsoils in Central Europe and China. Data on major global areas and soil regions are missing, leading to a limited understanding of soils plastic pollution. Furthermore, we found that open data handling, geospatial data and documentation of basic soil information are underrepresented, which hinders further understanding of global plastic fluxes in soils. Out of this context, we give recommendations for spatial reference and soil context data collection, access and combination with soil microplastic data, to work towards a global and free soil microplastic data hub.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8929/1/4/42plastic crisissoil geographysamplinggeodataspatialopen data |
| spellingShingle | Collin J. Weber Moritz Bigalke Opening Space for Plastics—Why Spatial, Soil and Land Use Data Are Important to Understand Global Soil (Micro)Plastic Pollution Microplastics plastic crisis soil geography sampling geodata spatial open data |
| title | Opening Space for Plastics—Why Spatial, Soil and Land Use Data Are Important to Understand Global Soil (Micro)Plastic Pollution |
| title_full | Opening Space for Plastics—Why Spatial, Soil and Land Use Data Are Important to Understand Global Soil (Micro)Plastic Pollution |
| title_fullStr | Opening Space for Plastics—Why Spatial, Soil and Land Use Data Are Important to Understand Global Soil (Micro)Plastic Pollution |
| title_full_unstemmed | Opening Space for Plastics—Why Spatial, Soil and Land Use Data Are Important to Understand Global Soil (Micro)Plastic Pollution |
| title_short | Opening Space for Plastics—Why Spatial, Soil and Land Use Data Are Important to Understand Global Soil (Micro)Plastic Pollution |
| title_sort | opening space for plastics why spatial soil and land use data are important to understand global soil micro plastic pollution |
| topic | plastic crisis soil geography sampling geodata spatial open data |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8929/1/4/42 |
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