this microplasticsalready occupying the most unexpected areas (including the blood circulation of people), now first discovered in the leaves of plants. How did they get there? Everything shows water running through it, which suggests plastic debris is floating in the atmosphere.
Researchers at Presov University in Slovakia, while studying organisms that live in small puddles that form in the axils of thistle leaves, discovered that apart from these organisms, this water also contains small pieces of plastic.
plants of the genus dipsaccus they have opposite leaves growing one above the other on the stem at different levels. Where the leaf meets the stem, they present a type of container called telmata that eventually collects rainwater.. The study authors noted that these tiny deposits are “a relatively common, but often overlooked, aquatic microcosm” in research.
Surprisingly, they found fragments and fibers of different colors in these telmatians.some up to 2.4 millimeters in lengtheventually identified as microplastic.
Researchers wondered how it was possible for this water to be contaminated with plastic because its age was so short. Because they could not find any other source of contaminants in the study area, they concluded: detected fragments and fibers most likely come from a contaminated atmosphereAs they point out in the article published in the journal BioRisk.
Another theory is that the snails may have moved these parts from the ground or other plants.
“The first finding of microplastics in small water reservoirs created by plants recently It is further proof that this type of pollution spreads in several ways, and that probably no environment on Earth is safe.This frankly makes our discovery rather discouraging,” said Katarína Fogašová, Peter Manko and Jozef Obona of the University of Prešov.
The plant that served to make this discovery, cardencha plant, can henceforth serve as a natural ‘detector’ of microplastic amount in a particular ecosystem
These residues, often microscopic, have already been discovered in many elements, notably mineral water, table salt, and other commonly consumed foods. Actually, scientists have already confirmed the presence of plastic in the blood, lungs and other internal organs. of humankind.
Reference work: https://biorisk.pensoft.net/article/87433/
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