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Researchers demonstrate that forests trap airborne microplastics, acting as terrestrial sinks
by Japan Women’s University
https://phys.org/news/2024-03-forests-airborne-microplastics-terrestrial.html#google_vignette
A research group led by Japan Women’s University finds that airborne microplastics adsorb to the epicuticular wax on the surface of forest canopy leaves, and that forests may act as terrestrial sinks for airborne microplastics.
Think of microplastics, and you might think of the ones accumulating in the world’s oceans. However, they are also filling the sky and the air we breathe. Now, it has been discovered that forests might be acting as a sink for these airborne microplastics, offering humanity yet another crucial service.
In a study recently published in Environmental Chemistry Letters, a multi-institutional research group led by Professor Miyazaki Akane of Japan Women’s University has used a new technique to measure the levels of microplastics adhering to the leaves of trees, revealing that forests are potentially acting as terrestrial sinks for these particles.
Microplastics have come into public focus within the last decade because of their effects on the environment and human health. Airborne microplastics are tiny plastic particulates(less than 100 µm) that become suspended in the atmosphere and dispersed throughout the environment, but it has been unclear where they end up. Forests have been known to accumulate airborne pollutants, but their ability to capture airborne microplastics has been poorly understood.
“We investigated airborne microplastics on konara oak tree leaves in a small forest in Tokyo,” says lead author of the study, Natsu Sunaga. “We wanted to determine a reliable method for analyzing levels of these microplastics on leaf surfaces, and how exactly airborne microplastics become trapped by leaves.”
The team examined the leaves of Quercus serrata, a species of oak representative of Japanese forests. To extract the plastics, the leaves were treated using three processes: washing with ultrapure water, simultaneous treatment with ultrasonic waves and washing with ultrapure water, and treatment with an alkaline solution of 10% potassium hydroxide.
“We found that airborne microplastics strongly adsorb to the epicuticular wax on the leaf surface,” explains Akane Miyazaki, senior author. “In other words, these particles accumulate when they stick to the waxy surface coating of leaves.”
The team discovered that the first two treatments—rinsing with ultrapure water alone or in combination with ultrasonic waves—were insufficient for accurately determining the levels of airborne microplastics on forest canopy leaves. Treatment with alkaline potassium hydroxide, however, removed both the epicuticular wax and the substances adhered to it, proving to be an effective method for detecting airborne microplastics stuck to leaf surfaces. Crucially, previous studies that used only the first two methods may have underestimated the number of plastics adhering to leaf surfaces.
“Based on our findings, we estimate that the Quercus serrata forests of Japan (~32,500 km2) trap approximately 420 trillion airborne microplastics per year in their canopies,” states Sunaga. “This indicates that forests may act as terrestrial sinks for airborne microplastics.”
How the accumulation of these microplastics will affect forest ecosystems, including ecosystem functions and soil health, is unknown, and this will undoubtedly be an area of further research. For now, we know that forests and even roadside canopies might reduce the amount of plastic entering our lungs, and for that we have yet another reason to thank trees.
More information: Natsu Sunaga et al, Alkaline extraction yields a higher number of microplastics in forest canopy leaves: implication for microplastic storage, Environmental Chemistry Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1007/s10311-024-01725-3
Provided by Japan Women’s University
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PETA tells WH, Jill Biden annual Easter Egg Roll can still be ‘egg-citing’ with potatoes
USA TODAY
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/03/15/peta-white-house-easter-egg-roll-potatoes/72987597007/
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PETA is not a fan of the White House rolling chicken eggs during its annual Easter Egg Roll. That’s why the animal rights nonprofit is now recommending first lady Jill Biden replace the “cholesterol bombs” with potatoes.
PETA’s argument against using eggs is that “potatoes are cheaper and healthier than eggs and leave birds in peace,” the nonprofit said in a recent news release.
“Children love animals and would be sad to learn that the eggs used for fun and games at the White House come from tormented hens whose lives are spent in cages that afford them less space than a standard sheet of typing paper,” PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said in the release. “Easter should be a time of renewal and joy for all sentient beings—and that means hens, too.”
Replacing eggs for the event would please everyone who does not support “filthy factory farms,” the nonprofit said.
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PETA pens letter in support of changing tradition to first lady Jill Biden
The nonprofit sent a letter Monday full of potato puns to first lady Jill Biden explaining how unethical using eggs is during the annual event.
“I’m writing on behalf of (PETA)… to respectfully suggest an appealing way to modernize the White House Easter Egg Roll—one that would be truly inclusive and welcomed by every tot who doesn’t eat eggs for religious, cultural, or environmental reasons or because they object to the way animals, including hens whose reproductive systems are exploited for eggs, are raised and killed these days,” the letter reads.
PETA’s letter said the White House using eggs promotes “the deleterious factory farming and slaughter industries,” so initiating the “annual White House Potato Roll” would be more appropriate.
“Easter is not a time of renewal or joy for chickens on egg factory farms,” the letter reads. “It can take up to 36 hours in typically hellish conditions for a hen—who spends her entire life in a cage smaller than a letter-sized sheet of paper—to produce just one of the thousands of eggs slated to be used at the White House Easter Egg Roll.”
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PETA outlines the benefits of replacing eggs with spuds
By replacing eggs with potatoes, the White House would not be exploiting “any sentient beings,” but rather, encouraging “empathy and kindness to animals while supporting potato farmers in the U.S.,” according to PETA’s letter.
PETA’s letter further encourages the use of potatoes by detailing how they are “the most popular vegetable in the country” and safer to dye allowing for “spudtacular traditional activities” — including rolling, seeking and decorating them.
“You could even hold potato sack races and games of hot potato,” the nonprofit’s letter reads.
The White House has an opportunity to start a “new Easter tradition” amid increased egg prices and the “worst avian flu outbreak in history,” which led to almost 82 million birds being slaughtered, PETA’s letter said.
In world 1st, dairy cows in Texas and Kansas test positive for H5N1 bird flu
By Sascha Pare
published yesterday
Unpasteurized milk samples and throat and nose swabs from cows on U.S. dairy farms have tested positive for bird flu, marking the second known cases in ruminants in the U.S.
- https://www.livescience.com/health/flu/in-world-1st-dairy-cows-in-texas-and-kansas-test-positive-for-h5n1-bird-flu
In a first, bird flu was recently detected in cows on U.S. farms. (The pictured cows are not among those infected.) (Image credit: Bloomberg / Contributor via Getty Images)
Dairy cows on farms in Texas and Kansas have tested positive for bird flu in the first known cases in cows in the U.S., and likely the world. Cows in New Mexico are also thought to have been infected, but they have not yet been tested.
Three weeks ago, the cows became sick with a cold-like illness, The Associated Press reported. The animals were producing less milk than usual, their appetites decreased and they appeared lethargic.
Unpasteurized milk samples and throat and nose swabs showed that the cows were infected with the H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Texas Animal Health Commission announced Tuesday (March 26). This strain is known to cause outbreaks in wild and domesticated birds and to occasionally infect people.
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The announcement comes a week after the first U.S. cases of bird flu in goats (Capra hircus) were reported. The goats were sharing a pasture and water source with ducks and chickens that were infected with bird flu on a backyard farm in Stevens County, Minnesota, according to a report by the World Organisation for Animal Health.
The spread of bird flu to goats “highlights the possibility of the virus infecting other animals on farms with multiple species,” Brian Hoefs, the Minnesota state veterinarian and executive director of the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, said in a statement released March 20.
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Based on the new results from Texas, officials think the dairy cows were likely infected by wild birds. The tests did not detect any changes to the bird flu virus that would make it more transmissible to humans, the AP reported.
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In outbreaks of bird flu in poultry, officials have had to cull entire flocks to control the spread of the virus. By contrast, the cows that tested positive for bird flu appeared to recover without treatment within seven to 10 days, experts told the AP.
The virus infected about 10% of lactating dairy cows in the affected herds. As such, the situation “doesn’t look anything like the high-path influenza in bird flocks,” Michael Payne, a food animal veterinarian and biosecurity expert at the University of California, Davis, told the news agency.
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Only milk from healthy animals on the affected dairy farms will enter the food supply. The U.S. Department of Agriculture considers the risk to people low and noted in a statement that pasteurization, which is required for milk sold through interstate commerce, kills viruses and bacteria.
So far, H5N1 bird flu has been reported in 48 mammal species, including foxes, skunks, raccoons, seals and polar bears. “It was probably only a matter of time before avian influenza made its way to ruminants,” which include hooved, cud-chewing mammals like cattle, goats and sheep, Payne said.
There are no reported cases of bird flu being transmitted from nonhuman mammals to humans in the U.S. to date, according to the Minnesota Board of Animal Health. There have been rare cases of the infection spreading from birds to people. Any risk of infection is limited to people who have direct contact with infected animals, experts told the AP.
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