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Microplastics are messing with photosynthesis in plants (www.scientificamerican.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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%.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

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] 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Do you mean the Calvin Cycle?

Edit: oof alpha channel moment

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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

From the abstract of the paper OP linked

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Probably further research needed?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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] 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks 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.