Summary
New research reveals microplastics can reduce plants’ photosynthetic ability by 7-12% on average, with variations across terrestrial crops (6-18%), marine plants (2-12%), and freshwater algae (4-14%).
This pollution could cause 4-13.5% yield loss in staple crops over 25 years and decrease seafood production by up to 7% as aquatic ecosystems suffer.
Beyond threatening food security, reduced photosynthesis hampers carbon sequestration efforts critical for climate change.
Researchers estimate that reducing environmental microplastics by just 13% could mitigate photosynthesis loss by 30%.
I appreciate it!
But perhaps I should have been clearer.
I didn’t mean Joanna Thompson’s at Scientific American.
I was looking for Baoshan Xing’s at PNAS.
This one:
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2423957122