articleProceedings of the National Academy of SciencesMar 10, 2025HYBRID OA

A global estimate of multiecosystem photosynthesis losses under microplastic pollution

RZRuijie ZhuZZZhaoying ZhangNZNaichi ZhangHZHuan ZhongFZFanqi Zhou

State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse · Nanjing University · +12 more institutions

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Abstract

Understanding how ecosystems respond to ubiquitous microplastic (MP) pollution is crucial for ensuring global food security. Here, we conduct a multiecosystem meta-analysis of 3,286 data points and reveal that MP exposure leads to a global reduction in photosynthesis of 7.05 to 12.12% in terrestrial plants, marine algae, and freshwater algae. These reductions align with those estimated by a constructed machine learning model using current MP pollution levels, showing that MP exposure reduces the chlorophyll content of photoautotrophs by 10.96 to 12.84%. Model estimates based on the identified MP-photosynthesis nexus indicate annual global losses of 4.11 to 13.52% (109.73 to 360.87 MT·y −1 ) for main crops and…

Citation impact

57
total citations
FWCI
22.36
Percentile
100%
References
67
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Authors

17

Topics & keywords

Topics
Keywords
  • Photosynthesis
  • Environmental science
  • Algae
  • Pollution
  • Food security
  • Sustainability
  • Plastic pollution
  • Marine ecosystem
UN Sustainable Development Goals
  • Zero hunger
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