Determinants of environmental changes in human-modified ecosystems: Effects of plastics on moisture gradients, nutrients, and clay properties.

ABSTRACT: Plastic pollution poses a significant threat to ecosystem health worldwide. This study examines the determinants of environmental changes in human-modified ecosystems through a quantitative-qualitative system dynamics modeling approach: field experiments conducted on a 310 m² unsaturated clay-rich bed and a 2.5 m² clay-rich shore of a plastic-impacted pond in Shenzhen, China, and a 1.17 ha plastic-impacted clay pit in Musanze, Rwanda; laboratory experiments involving Modified Proctor (MP) and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) tests on natural clay reinforced with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics, with diameters ranging from 0.25 to 5 mm and at concentrations of 1.25 %, 2.5 %, 3.75 %, 5 %, and 10 % by weight of clay; and plastic dynamic flows analyzed by mod

SUBMITTER: Ndayishimiye JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11490777 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature