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%.
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.
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.