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2024-11-11

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

Btw, those plastic foils are just plowed under, it's nuts. Make them bio-degradable already. The vegs shouldn't be allowed to be labeled "bio" if they use plastics for growing.