Red Sea Research Center and Computational Bioscience Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Biology, College of Science, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU), Dammam, 31441-1982, Saudi Arabia.
Environ Pollut. 2019 Apr;247:499-508. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.01.067. Epub 2019 Jan 21.
To verify weather mangroves act as sinks for marine litter, we surveyed through visual census 20 forests along the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf, both in inhabited and remote locations. Anthropogenic debris items were counted and classified along transects, and the influence of main drivers of distribution were considered (i.e. land-based and ocean-based sources, density of the forest and properties of the object). We confirmed that distance to major maritime traffic routes significantly affects the density of anthropogenic debris in Red Sea mangrove forests, while this was independent of land-based activities. This suggests ocean-based activities combined with surface currents as major drivers of litter in this basin. Additionally, litter was more abundant where the mangrove density was higher, and object distribution through the mangrove stand often depended on their shape and dimension. We particularly show that pneumatophores act as a sieve retaining large plastic objects, leading to higher plastic mass estimates in mangroves compared to those of beaches previously surveyed in the Red Sea.
为了验证红树林是否是海洋垃圾的汇，我们通过目视普查，对红海和阿拉伯湾沿线的 20 片森林进行了调查，这些森林既有有人居住的地方，也有偏远的地方。我们在样带上对人为废弃物进行了计数和分类，并考虑了主要分布驱动因素的影响（即陆源和海源、森林密度和物体特性）。我们证实，距主要海上交通航线的距离显著影响红海红树林中人为废弃物的密度，而这与陆源活动无关。这表明，海洋活动与表层海流是该海域垃圾的主要驱动因素。此外，在红树林密度较高的地方，垃圾更为丰富，而物体在红树林中的分布往往取决于它们的形状和尺寸。我们特别表明，气生根起到了筛子的作用，截留了大型塑料物体，导致与之前在红海调查的海滩相比，红树林中的塑料质量估计值更高。
