As scientists conduct more and more research on microplastics, it’s becoming clear that these tiny particles can be found almost everywhere on the planet and potentially above it. And if microplastics are in numerous life forms, what effects are they having on them (and us)? A study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences explored an especially significant topic: microplastics’ impact on our food supply.
The researchers found that microplastics adversely affected plants’ photosynthesis. That led to, in their estimation, “an annual loss of 109.73 to 360.87 million metric tons (MT) for crop production.” Why? The answer has to do with microplastics’ effect on photosynthesis. The paper’s authors found that exposure to microplastics led to a decrease in photosynthesis of 7.05% to 12.12%.
The paper also addressed another drop in food production due to microplastics: seafood, which they estimate has annual production losses of between 1.05 to 24.33 million metric tons. This has to do with the effects of microplastics on both saltwater and freshwater algae. Less photosynthesis means less algae; given its crucial role in the food chain, it’s not hard to see how this could cascade upwards.
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As one of the paper’s authors, Nanjing University professor Huan Zhong, told The Guardian, this matters because it works against global efforts to increase the overall food supply. “[T]hese ongoing efforts are now being jeopardized by plastic pollution,” Zhong said. These findings also raise another question: now that they’re in the environment, is there any way to remove microplastics from it?
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