{"id":30787,"date":"2025-09-19T03:39:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T03:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/30787\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T03:39:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T03:39:11","slug":"scientists-raise-red-flags-after-making-first-of-its-kind-discovery-deep-in-forest-an-additional-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/30787\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists raise red flags after making first-of-its-kind discovery deep in forest: ‘An additional threat’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Microplastics are everywhere: Scientists have found an accumulation of the tiny particles in our oceans, rivers, fields, and cities. Recently, a team of researchers conclusively found \u2014 reportedly for the first time \u2014 that microplastics are accumulating densely in forests, sparking concern over the health of those ecosystems, according to a university report shared by Phys.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What’s happening?<\/p>\n

Geoscientists at the Technical University of Darmstadt assessed soil samples for microplastics in order to understand their presence in forest environments. Their results, which were published<\/a> in the journal Nature: Communications Earth & Environment, directly linked atmospheric microplastics and their storage in forest soils.<\/p>\n

“The microplastics from the atmosphere initially settle on the leaves of the tree crowns, which scientists refer to as the ‘comb-out effect,'” lead author Dr. Collin J. Weber explained in the university report. “Then, in deciduous forests, the particles are transported to the forest soil by rain or the autumn leaf fall, for example.”<\/p>\n

After that, the decomposing leaves break down into the soil, bringing microplastics with them. Researchers found levels of microplastics in both the upper and deeper layers of soil; this led them to attribute some microplastic movement not only to the leaves decomposing, but to the organisms involved in their decomposition.<\/p>\n

Why is microplastic pollution concerning?<\/p>\n

One reason microplastic pollution is so concerning<\/a> \u2014 to people as well as to natural systems \u2014 is that it’s incredibly pervasive. This study’s results starkly demonstrate that: “We conclude that forests are good indicators of atmospheric microplastic pollution and that a high concentration of microplastics in forest soils indicates a high diffuse input \u2014 as opposed to direct input such as from fertilizers in agriculture \u2014 of particles from the air into these ecosystems,” Dr. Weber explained.<\/p>\n

That is to say, while researchers would expect to find high levels of microplastic pollution near sources such as agricultural runoff, for example, it’s concerning to find them in areas with no direct inputs. Similar findings<\/a> have been discovered in the ocean, where particles are even more diffuse and more common than expected.<\/p>\n

But their less-detected nature doesn’t make them any less of a threat: The ubiquitous presence of microplastics has been linked to a number of potential human health threats<\/a> and complications. This includes reproductive issues, cell-level and even DNA-level damage, cancer risks, respiratory issues, nervous system disruption, internal organ dysfunction, and more, according to Harvard University. These issues have been observed across numerous animal species as well as humans.<\/p>\n

And, this study confirms, even densely-forested landscapes are facing potential hidden threats.<\/p>\n

“Forests are already threatened by climate change, and our findings suggest that microplastics could now pose an additional threat to forest ecosystems,” Dr. Weber concluded.<\/p>\n

What’s being done to address microplastic pollution?<\/p>\n

The issue with plastics is twofold: Capturing and storing existing environmental microplastics, and halting further production of new plastics.<\/p>\n

Currently, scientists are innovating a number of possible approaches to each problem. For example, improved water filters can draw plastics out of drinking water to reduce the microplastics that are ending up lodged inside our bodies. A new type of biodegradable cleaning pellet can effectively gather ocean microplastics and return them to the surface for collection. And materials engineers are making consumer packaging out of seaweed, rice husks, and other organic materials.<\/p>\n

And as consumers, we can continue to incentivize plastic-free production<\/a> by choosing brands and products that don’t use new, single-use plastic.<\/p>\n

Join our free newsletter<\/a> for good news and useful tips, and don’t miss this cool list<\/a> of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Microplastics are everywhere: Scientists have found an accumulation of the tiny particles in our oceans, rivers, fields, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[29644,29642,29640,134,29641,3353,111,139,69,29643,23595],"class_list":["post-30787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-deciduous-forests","tag-forest-soil","tag-forest-soils","tag-health","tag-microplastic-pollution","tag-microplastics","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technical-university-of-darmstadt","tag-tiny-particles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}