Fig. 5: Impacts of plastic mulch on the environment vary with anthropogenic activities and climates. | Nature Communications

Fig. 5: Impacts of plastic mulch on the environment vary with anthropogenic activities and climates.

From: Plastic mulch productivity-sustainability tradeoffs and pathways toward an eco-friendly framework: insights from a global meta-analysis

Fig. 5: Impacts of plastic mulch on the environment vary with anthropogenic activities and climates.The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Impacts of plastic mulching on (a) greenhouse gas (CH₄, CO₂, N₂O) emissions and soil organic carbon (SOC), and (b) soil nitrogen loss. Forest plots showing the percentage differences between mulched and non-mulched systems across crop species, climate conditions, mulching practices, and nitrogen fertilization. In both (a) and (b), the number in parentheses beside each error bar represents the sample size for observed pairs of the two systems (i.e., mulched and non-mulched). The bar length represents the effect size at 95% confidence intervals (CIs). An error bar not overlapping the 0 value on the X-axis (the vertical line) indicates a significant effect between the two systems (P < 0.05). Effect sizes were calculated and analyzed using log response ratios, which were back-transformed and converted to percentage differences. Source data are provided in the Source Data file.

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