Microplastic accumulation dynamics in two Mediterranean beaches with contrasting inputs

Asensio-Montesinos, Francisco; Blaya-Valencia, Gloria; Corbí, Hugo; Beltrán-Sanahuja, Ana; Sanz‐Lázaro, Carlos

doi:10.1016/j.seares.2022.102269

Cited by 10 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Researchers indicate that surface morphology, volumeto-surface ratio, adsorption properties, and presence of additives are crucial factors that make these microplastics especially threatening to marine life forms. MFs are found in aquatic environments (rivers [9], shorelines [10], oceans) and can have hazardous effects on marine biota when ingested-there are confirmed cases of ingested and egested MPs by marine organisms and microorganisms that affected their particular life functions. Research shows that microbeads (a spherical form of MP) with rough surfaces considerably influence marine biota.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Feasible and Efficient Monitoring Method of Synthetic Fibers Released during Textile Washing

Świątek,

Dąbrowska

2024

Microplastics

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Microfibers (MFs) are one of the most common and hazardous forms of microplastic found in the aquatic environment. The methods of collecting and analyzing MFs released during washing have to be developed and standardized to understand and model the process of microfibers’ emission better. This study tests a new, innovative method to check if laundry fiber sampling can be approached comprehensively. Pieces of synthetic materials (aged and new polyester, polyester-cotton blend) were placed in chromium-nickel filters envelope-like folded. Then, textile weathering during washing was monitored by the quality and quantity of fibers found directly on the filter surface. Laundry parameters like temperature, detergent presence, and filter size were changed, and results were monitored by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), a well-known standard in microplastic identification. In addition, ATR spectra were collected to characterize the materials in detail and evaluate their aging level. Spectroscopy can be used to detect and examine both mechanical and chemical degradation, and the collected microfibers can be assigned to the material they come from. Finally, a quantitative comparison of fibers released during different washing conditions can be used for the process optimization to minimize its environmental impact.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Feasible and Efficient Monitoring Method of Synthetic Fibers Released during Textile Washing

Świątek,

Dąbrowska

2024

Microplastics

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“…Beach litter has a detrimental impact on beach tourism, which is very vulnerable to the presence of such types of pollution [55][56][57] as beach users do not appreciate polluted beaches [10,26]. On the other hand, human activities of bathers, whether intentional or not, are an important source of litter [27,58,59] and are partly responsible for the deterioration of the coastal landscape quality. In addition to hydrodynamic and climatic conditions [60,61], the abundance of man-made litter observed directly on beaches depends on a number of aspects such as the daily number of visitors, the density of the local population, the difficulty of access to the beach, the frequency of substrate cleaning and the typology of beaches mentioned in this paper, etc.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Sector Analysis as a Coastal Management Tool for Sustainable Tourism Development on the Mediterranean Coast of Morocco

Er-Ramy,

Nachite,

Anfuso

et al. 2023

Sustainability

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Beaches are ecologically valuable ecosystems and sites that attract many tourists from all over the world, therefore, knowledge of their environmental conditions to establish sound management strategies is of extreme relevance. This study aims to assess and classify 50 beaches through an innovative coastal management approach called “Sector Analysis”, which integrates Litter grading, the coastal scenic quality and beach typology in order to classify sites into one of three sectors: Green (high value sites), Red (low value sites) and Yellow (sites with contradictory values). Litter Grade makes it possible to classify a site according to the quantity of litter using four grades from “A” (low) to “D” (high amount). The Coastal Scenic Evaluation System (CSES) allows to classify sites into five classes, ranging from extremely attractive natural sites (Class I) to unattractive degraded and urbanized sites (Class V). This innovative methodology for sustainable coastal area management can be easily applied to any beach in the world. The results on Litter Grade and CSES considered in this paper were obtained from previous studies and used to obtain the Sector Analysis that showed only 8 sites (16%) are in the Green sector, 18 sites (36%) in the Red sector and 24 sites (48%) in the Yellow sector. The significant percentage of sites in the Red sector (one third of the sites studied) clearly indicates the degradation that the Moroccan Mediterranean coast has undergone due to considerable anthropogenic activities and the lack of adequate coastal management programs. In this study, various management interventions were proposed to conserve and improve the aesthetic quality of beaches and reduce the impact and presence of litter in the coastal areas.

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Anthropogenic particle abundance and characteristics in seawater and intertidal sediments of the Tonkin Bay Coast (North Vietnam)

Phuong,

Duong,

Pham

et al. 2024

Environ Monit Assess

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Microplastics (MPs, plastic items from 1 µm to 5 mm in size) are present in all the environmental compartments. The evaluation of their concentration, fate, and spatial distribution is still a challenge for the scienti c community. This concern is just debuting in developing countries, i.e. Asia, South America and Africa. This study deals with the MP contamination in the abiotic marine compartments of the Northern of Vietnam: seawater and intertidal sediments.Four sites located in the intertidal zone or near the coastline in the Tonkin bay, Vietnam were studied. A total of 16 samples (8 for each compartment) were collected in July 2020 (rainy season) and January 2021 (dry season).Plastic-like items were found at levels ranging from 3 to 303 items/m 3 in seawater and from 63 to 955 items/kg dry weight in sediments. Most of these were bers less than 300 µm long. Higher levels in seawater were found in the rainy season compared to the drier one. As the river ow was estimated six times higher during the rainy season than during the dry season, these results suggest the river discharge as a potential source of contamination for coastal zone. The temporal variability was lower for the sediments than for the seawater, demonstrating the long-term integration of the plastic-like items in this compartment. While the nature of bers wasn't investigated, the plastic-like fragments were analyzed on µFTIR imaging spectrometer. The determination of polymer composition indicated that most of the fragments were made of polypropylene (PP, 82%), followed by polyethylene (PE, 9%) and polystyrene (PS, 9%). The fragment size was similar in two studied compartments but it was depending on polymer types, since PS fragments (140 ± 17 µm) were smaller than those made of PE (622 ± 123 µm) and PP (869 ± 905 µm).

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Microplastic accumulation dynamics in two Mediterranean beaches with contrasting inputs

Cited by 10 publications

References 51 publications

A Feasible and Efficient Monitoring Method of Synthetic Fibers Released during Textile Washing

A Feasible and Efficient Monitoring Method of Synthetic Fibers Released during Textile Washing

The Sector Analysis as a Coastal Management Tool for Sustainable Tourism Development on the Mediterranean Coast of Morocco

Anthropogenic particle abundance and characteristics in seawater and intertidal sediments of the Tonkin Bay Coast (North Vietnam)

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