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- Small scale habitat effects on anthropogenic litter material and sources in a coastal lagoon systemPublication . Velez, Nadja; Nicastro, Katy R.; McQuaid, Christopher D.; Zardi, Gerardo I.Anthropogenic litter is ubiquitous throughout marine ecosystems, but its abundance and distribution are driven by complex interactions of distinct environmental factors and thus can be extremely heterogeneous. Here we compare the extent of anthropogenic litter pollution at a sheltered lagoon habitat and nearby open coast sites. Monthly surveys over a period of five months showed that both the types and sources of litter always differed significantly between lagoon and open coast sites. Pollution within the lagoon was mainly land-derived and was largely made up of construction materials (70% to 95%). At open coast sites, construction materials represented a minor portion of pollution (4% to 12%) while plastics were the most abundant (82% to 95%). We show that stranded anthropogenic litter in adjacent marine habitats can differ significantly and stress the importance of sampling at appropriate spatial scales to gain realistic insights into the sources of pollution.
- A baseline assessment of beach macrolitter and microplastics along northeastern Atlantic shoresPublication . Velez, Nadja; Zardi, Gerardo, I; Lo Savio, Roberto; McQuaid, Christopher D.; Valbusa, Ugo; Sabour, Brahim; Nicastro, KatyMarine litter is widely dispersed throughout coastal environments. Assessing the distribution and accumulation of such contaminants is crucial to understand their environmental impacts. This study presents a baseline for the monitoring of litter and microplastics in intertidal sediments along the Atlantic shores of southern Portugal and Morocco and identifies potential sources of contamination. Although variable, distribution and composition of both litter and microplastics did not follow a latitudinal pattern. Most of the litter had an undifferentiated source. Within the identifiable sources of litter, food packaging, fishing and tobacco were the most abundant, with variable contributions among sites. Over 97% of marine litter retrieved was plastic. Fragments and filaments were the most abundant categories of plastics at sites with the highest and lowest microplastic abundance respectively. Filaments were mainly made of Polypropylene (PP,50%) and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET,29%) while the predominant polymers for fragments were Polyethene (PE, 75%) and PP (25%).