The occurrence and effects of microplastics are among the highly topical, anthropogenically caused environmental problems. Reliable information on the quantities and dynamics of plastic fragments is not yet sufficiently available and is the subject of current research projects. There is a particular lack of well-founded knowledge on the effects of microplastics in agriculture and in particular on grassland stocks. For this reason, M.Sc. Hanna Schmidt's doctoral thesis will investigate the concrete influences that microplastics can have on different types of grassland.

The simulation of microplastics is carried out by microfragments of different polymers, which are first examined in germ and vessel experiments with different plant species.