Microplastics in agricultural soils following sewage sludge applications: Evidence from a 25-year study.

Sewage sludges applied to agricultural soils are sources of microplastic pollution, however, little is known about the accumulation, persistence, or degradation of these microplastics over time. This is the first study to provide long-term, high temporal resolution quantitative evidence of microplastics in agricultural soils following sewage sludge application. The abundance and degradation of microplastics was assessed in soils sampled biennially from an experimental field over a 25-year period managed under an improved grassland regime following the application of five different sewage sludges.

Effects of season and sediment-water exchange processes on the partitioning of pesticides in the catchment environment: Implications for pesticides monitoring.

Current and historic pesticide use has potential to compromise e.g. drinking water sources due to both primary and secondary emission sources.

Spatial assessment of land degradation through key ecosystem services: The role of globally available data.

Land degradation is a serious issue especially in dry and developing countries leading to ecosystem services (ESS) degradation due to soil functions' depletion. Reliably mapping land degradation spatial distribution is therefore important for policy decisions. The main objectives of this paper were to infer land degradation through ESS assessment and compare the modelling results obtained using different sets of data.