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Wiebke Mareile Heinze

Wiebke Mareile Heinze
In order to know what potential impacts microplastics may have, we first need to understand where they are in the soil and whether their distribution may change over time. We need to consider many different factors to understand transport processes of microplastics in soil, starting with soil structure, soil fauna, climatic factors, but also the different kinds, sizes and shapes of microplastics that we find in the environment.

Presentation

"I wasn't interested in soils until one fateful day during my bachelors when I went to a lecture in soil science - mostly because other friends went and I had some free time, and why not? That afternoon I walked out of the lecture knowing that there was little I had encountered that was as fascinating as soil, and I knew what I wanted to work with in the future. So this is where I am now."

Teaching

Environmental Geochemistry (master level course at SLU): lectures, preparation and supervision of laboratory exercises, data processing and reporting 

Research

2025-present Interactions between soil organic carbon and soil structure (PI: Mats Larsbo, SLU)

2020-2025 Micro- and nanoplastic distribution and transport in agricultural soils - From field to burrow scale (PhD project, PI: Geert Cornelis, SLU)

Environmental analysis

  • Microplastic extraction from soil
  • Microplastic analysis via micro-FT-IR and Py-GC/MS
  • Acid digestion and metal analysis of soils via ICP-MS
  • Non-destructive geophysical exploration (Electrical resistivity tomography)
  • X-ray computed tomography for soil pore structure analysis

Background

2025-ongoing  Scientific researcher, Soil and Environmental Physics group, Department of Soil & Environment, SLU

2024-2025  Scientific researcher in EJP SOIL Sweden, Project Synthesis and Communication, Department of Soil & Environment, SLU

2020-2024  PhD in Soil Science, Soil Chemistry group, Department of Soil & Environment, SLU

2017-2019 Double degree MSc in Environmental Sciences with a focus on soil and land use, University of Copenhagen, Denmark and SLU

2012-2017  Bachelor of Science in Geography

Supervision

PhD level

  • Jeongyeon Yun (PhD student at SLU, 2024-ongoing)

Master level

  • Clara Ines Kieschnick Llamas (Master thesis project, 2024-ongoing)
  • Nora Ottander (Master thesis project, 2023)
  • Kathrin A. Leicht (Research internship, 2021)

Selected publications

Heinze, W.M., Steinmetz, Z., Klemmensen, N.D.R., Vollertsen, J., Cornelis, G., 2024. Vertical distribution of microplastics in an agricultural soil after long-term treatment with sewage sludge and mineral fertiliser. Environmental Pollution. 356, 124343. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124343

Hooge, A., Hauggaard-Nielsen, H., Heinze, W.M., Lyngsie, G., Ramos, T.M., Sandgaard, M.H., Vollertsen, J., Syberg, K., 2023. Fate of microplastics in sewage sludge and in agricultural soils. Trends in Analytical Chemistry. 166, 117184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trac.2023.117184

Heinze, W. M.; Mitrano, D. M.; Lahive, E.; Koestel, J.; Cornelis, G. Nanoplastic Transport in Soil via Bioturbation by Lumbricus Terrestris. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2021, 55 (24), 16423–16433. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c05614

Thomas, D.; Schütze, B.; Heinze, W. M.; Steinmetz, Z. Sample Preparation Techniques for the Analysis of Microplastics in Soil—A Review. Sustainability 2020, 12 (21), 9074. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12219074

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1884-6664

Links

Contact

Doctoral Student at the Department of Soil and Environment; Soil and Environmental Physics
Telephone: +4618673148, +46730710608
E-mail: wiebkemareile.heinze@slu.se
Postal address:
Box 7014
750 07 Uppsala
Visiting address: Lennart Hjelms väg 9, Uppsala