this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2025
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2024-11-11

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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] 6 points 5 days ago (4 children)

So that's what all this stuff is!

Also, could someone share a pdf?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

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

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