Plastic use has facilitated many practices in agriculture in the past decades. However, the increased application leads to aggregations of plastic in the fields in various contents. From the different plastic debris micro-, and nano-plastics (MNP) are derived and are small enough to be ingested by a wide range of organisms and can cross biological barriers at nano-scale and enter plant systems.
This emerging risk has prompted first studies that confirmed the high potential of accumulation of MP in soils causing changes in physico-chemical soil properties. Consequently, this can cause alternation of soil functions such as soil water dynamics and ultimately affect related ecosystem services (ESS) like nutrient cycling, plant growth, and soil biodiversity, which have unmeasured impacts on the economy of the farm. These effects could be even magnified with the presence of MP in combination of other soil pollutants, such as pesticides and veterinary drugs or plastic additives (e.g. dyes), potentially exhibiting synergistic effects.
Within the EU research project ‘Minagris’ these interactive mechanisms are explored and documented. This App /’SoilPlastic’ motivates and engages various stakeholders to contribute to this process by observing and documenting plastic residues/littering in and on soils, submitting anonymized content to a global database. The aim is to identify needs, improve farmer and citizen awareness, provide practitioners with scientifically sound guidance on the impact of different plastic uses and inputs on soil ecosystems – enabling them to make informed decisions – and joint development of novel strategies for reducing plastic contamination. Additionally, with the observed data, a better understanding of any potentially harmful impacts of plastic debris to soil functions, soil biodiversity, related ESS, agricultural productivity at the field level, and related socio-economic consequences at farm level is provided.
The App is running on the SPOTTERON Citizen Science Platform at www.spotteron.net