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Nano/micro-plastics effects in agricultural landscapes: an overlooked threat to pollination, biological pest control, and food security
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This review synthesized evidence on nano/microplastic (NMP) effects on pollinators and biocontrol agents at organismal, farm, and landscape scales, finding that ingested NMP cause gene expression changes, organ damage, and behavioral modifications. The authors identify NMP-polluted 'NMP islands' as potential hotspots that may alter floral resource distributions and amplify synergistic threats with pathogens and antibiotics to agricultural ecosystem services.
Biodiversity-associated ecosystem services such as pollination and biocontrol may be severely affected by emerging nano/micro-plastics (NMP) pollution. We synthesized the little-explored effects of NMP on pollinators and biocontrol agents on the organismal, farm and landscape scale. For instance ingested NMP trigger organismal changes from gene expression, organ damage to behavior modifications. At the farm and landscape level, NMP will likely amplify synergistic effects with other threats such as pathogens and antibiotics, and may alter landscape properties such as floral resource distributions in high NMP concentration areas, what we call NMP islands. It is essential to understand the functional exposure pathways of NMP on pollinators and biocontrol agents to comprehensively evaluate the risks for agricultural ecosystems and global food security.
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