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Biodiversity at risk in the SPAMI Pelagos Sanctuary: The impact of marine litter on biota
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Researchers surveyed 23 species in the Mediterranean's Pelagos Sanctuary and found that marine litter, including microplastics, poses widespread risks to biodiversity from small invertebrates to whales. They detected microplastics and plastic additives in the tissues of stranded marine animals and commercially fished species. The study highlights how microplastic contamination in marine protected areas can affect seafood safety and the health of ecosystems that coastal communities depend on.
The Mediterranean basin is the second largest global biodiversity hotspot in the world, which coexists with a plethora of anthropogenic stress. This study examines the risks that marine litter poses to Mediterranean biodiversity, using the Special Protection Area of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI) "Pelagos Sanctuary" as a case study. In this paper, a new survey method and data analysis strategies to assess the impact of marine litter, including microplastics, on Mediterranean organisms, is proposed. A total of 23 species, from invertebrates to cetaceans, were analysed using two main monitoring approaches. In the first approach, the core density distribution areas of 11 megafauna species (elasmobranchs, sea turtles, seabirds, and cetaceans) and 4 invertebrate species were evaluated through an extended field survey. Simultaneously, monitoring of floating macro- and micro-litter was performed to be overlapped with the species distribution and abundance. The second monitoring approach assessed the ingestion of marine litter, microplastics and the levels of plastic additives in 10 stranded megafauna species and in 7 invertebrate and fish species. The final data processing, merging the data on biodiversity and marine litter abundance and distribution in the environment, with the data of ingested marine litter, microplastics, and plastic additives in sentinel species, allowed to: a) create risk maps for the species inhabiting the Pelagos Sanctuary, identifying critical areas for biodiversity conservation; b) identify the most exposed species to the risk of marine litter by an "exposure score"; c) to select sentinel species for pelagic environment.
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Researchers assessed biodiversity risks in the Pelagos Sanctuary, a protected area in the northwestern Mediterranean designated for cetacean conservation, from marine plastic pollution including microplastics. The study quantified plastic contamination within the sanctuary and evaluated the exposure risk for protected species including dolphins and whales.
Biodiversity at risk in the in the spami pelagos sanctuary: The impact of marine litter on biota
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This study assessed the risks posed by marine plastic pollution including microplastics to biodiversity in the Pelagos Sanctuary, a Special Protection Area in the Mediterranean Sea designated to protect cetaceans. The study found significant microplastic contamination within the sanctuary boundaries, creating ongoing exposure risk for protected whale and dolphin populations.
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Researchers mapped microplastic distribution across water, sediment, and biota in a Mediterranean marine protected area, revealing significant overlap between microplastic hotspots and biodiversity-rich zones, raising concerns about ecological impacts in supposedly protected habitats.
Occurrence, relative abundance and spatial distribution of microplastics and zooplankton NW of Sardinia in the Pelagos Sanctuary Protected Area, Mediterranean Sea
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Microplastics were found co-occurring with zooplankton in surface waters of a Mediterranean Marine Protected Area near Sardinia, raising concerns about plastic ingestion by small marine organisms and its transfer up the food chain. The presence of microplastics even in formally protected areas underscores that plastic pollution respects no boundaries.
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