Mulching with Black Plastic - Question

Yeah it seems a pretty large claim for an affect over such a small area. It's hard to imagine the edges of a modest hole in a long plastic sheet pumping more air into the soil than gets in there when an entire bed is exposed to the air. And what happens when the hole is cut clean and there are no edges to do any fluttering? What happens when there is no breeze to flutter whatever edges are loose enough to be fluttered?

Plus there is also the problem of soil surfaces not just serving to let air in, but to let other gasses out. Obviously they've got to go somewhere. If outgassing is restricted when the soil is covered with plastic, as it surely must be unless the hole that is "pumping air into the soil" is equally pumping other gasses out of the soil, there may be an accumulation of things in the soil, like methane and other products of decomposition, that we would rather let drift naturally up and out.

This pumping business strikes as a bit like saying that your skin will breathe better if you get into a scuba suit. Or get into a scuba suit and point a fan at your face. It doesn't seem a terribly sensible claim, and at any rate contradictory to what our OSU lecturer claims is newer science.