Microplastics Are Messing with Photosynthesis in Plants
www.scientificamerican.com
Microplastics can cut a plant’s ability to photosynthesize by up to 12 percent, new research shows

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%.

  • @[email protected]English
    14•3 days ago

    What’s the mechanism for photosynthesis reduction? It’s not explained in the PNAS article nor the abstract of the original paper, which is a meta-analysis.

    • @[email protected]English
      1•2 days ago

      MP exposure reduces the chlorophyll content of photoautotrophs by 10.96 to 12.84%.

      From the abstract of the paper OP linked

      • @[email protected]English
        3•2 days ago

        Yeah but that means what exactly? Plastic deposits on the surface of the plant? Water contamination? Something else?

          • @[email protected]English
            1•2 days ago

            That’s beside my point. They talk about the difference between photosynthesis efficacy with and without MPs, but don’t explain how the MPs affect the process.

            • @[email protected]English
              2•2 days ago

              You don’t have to explain the process to observe the difference. But it could be useful to understand the process to help figure out ways to mitigate it. I think we’ll have to wait for future research to find that out though.