Carabid beetles as potential bioindicators to track soil microplastics

The carabid ground beetles of the family Carabidae are as common as they come. These little nocturnal hunters are found in almost any terrestrial habitat on the planet. To some, they’re simply pests — infamous for their pungent smell, which they emit when they’re threatened. Others, but farmers in particular, are fond of them because they sate their voracious appetite by snacking on a variety of garden pests, including snails, caterpillars, slugs, and other small invertebrates.

Unfortunately, their diet of late has also begun to include microplastics.

Small fragments, films, and fibres of this nuisance material are dispersed in our oceans and our lands. In soil, they have a tendency to accumulate, altering the soil’s structure and the way it retains water, and reacting almost unpredict