Earthworm-Microplastic Interactions: Revealing the Feasibility and Obstacles of Utilizing Earthworms to Maintain the Health of Microplastic-Contaminated Soils

As an emerging pollutant, microplastics (MPs) have posed a substantial global environmental threat to agricultural soil health. Pollutant removal and risk control are core concepts in soil remediation. Recent studies have increasingly highlighted the potential of earthworms in enabling the degradation of MPs through various mechanisms, such as physical fragmentation within gizzards, depolymerization via gut microbiota and digestive enzymes, and the activation and maintenance of functional microbes involved in plastic degradation. Additionally, an increasing data set has confirmed that earthworms can mitigate the adverse effects of MPs on soil health. Consequently, earthworm-mediated remediation (vermiremediation) may represent a potential remediation strategy for managing MP pollution in agricultural soil. However, its practical implementation is constrained by multiple obstacles, including the complexity and ecotoxicity of MPs, the techniques for introducing earthworms, and the prevailing field conditions. These restrictions present significant challenges to the successful application of vermiremediation, underscoring the need for further research.