Department of Sciences, University of Roma Tre, Viale G. Marconi 446, 00146 Rome, Italy.
Department of Sciences, University of Roma Tre, Viale G. Marconi 446, 00146 Rome, Italy.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Dec 15;904:166756. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166756. Epub 2023 Aug 31.
Anthropogenic litter accumulates along coasts worldwide. In addition to the flowing litter load, wind, sea currents, geomorphology and vegetation determine the distribution of litter trapped on the sandy coasts. Although some studies highlighted the role of dune plants in trapping marine litter, little is known about their efficiency as sinks and about the small-scale spatial distribution of litter across the dune area. Here, we explore these gaps by analysing six plant species widespread in Mediterranean coastal habitats, namely Echinophora spinosa, Limbarda crithmoides, Anthemis maritima, Pancratium maritimum, Thinopyrum junceum, and Salsola kali. The present study analyses for the first time the capture of litter by dune vegetation at a multi-species level, considering their morphological structure. Data on plastic accumulation on dune plants were compared with unvegetated control plots located at embryo-dune and foredune belts. We found that dunal plants mainly entrapped macrolitter (> 0.5 cm). Particularly, E. spinosa, L. crithmoides, A. maritima and P. maritimum mostly accumulated litter in the embryo dune while T. junceum and S. kali entrapped more in the foredune area. Moreover, beach litter was mainly blocked at the edge of the plant patches rather than in the core, highlighting the 'Plant-edge litter effect'. As A. maritima and S. kali entrapped respectively more litter in embryo and foredune habitats, these species could be used to monitor and recollect litter. In this light, our findings provide further insight into the role of dune plants in the beach litter dynamics, suppling useful information for beach clean-up actions.
人为垃圾在世界各地的海岸线上堆积。除了流动的垃圾负荷外，风、海流、地貌和植被决定了被困在沙质海岸上的垃圾的分布。尽管一些研究强调了沙丘植物在捕获海洋垃圾方面的作用，但人们对它们作为汇的效率以及沙丘区域内垃圾的小尺度空间分布知之甚少。在这里，我们通过分析地中海沿海栖息地广泛存在的六种植物物种来探索这些空白，即刺沙蓬、节节菜、滨菊、海蓬子、猬草和盐角草。本研究首次分析了多物种水平的沙丘植被对垃圾的捕获，同时考虑了它们的形态结构。对沙丘植物上塑料积累的数据与位于胚胎沙丘和前沙丘带的无植被对照区进行了比较。我们发现，沙丘植物主要捕获大垃圾（>0.5 厘米）。特别是，刺沙蓬、节节菜、滨菊和海蓬子主要在前沙丘积累垃圾，而猬草和盐角草在前沙丘区域积累更多的垃圾。此外，海滩垃圾主要被阻挡在植物斑块的边缘，而不是在核心，突出了“植物边缘垃圾效应”。由于滨菊和盐角草分别在前沙丘和前沙丘生境中捕获了更多的垃圾，因此这些物种可以用于监测和收集垃圾。从这个角度来看，我们的发现进一步了解了沙丘植物在海滩垃圾动态中的作用，为海滩清理行动提供了有用的信息。
