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Beach wrack as a potential microplastic hot spot in the South-Eastern Baltic Sea environment
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Beach wrack in the South-Eastern Baltic Sea accumulated significantly higher microplastic concentrations than surrounding bare sediment, with aeration in saturated NaCl solution identified as the most reliable extraction method for MPs from wrack material.
Beach wrack is considered as a major source of nutrients to the sandy coast ecosystems in the South-East Baltic Sea, and it serves as the natural beach sediment storage and habitat formation material. However, it also could be a hot spot for microplastic and other types of marine litter accumulation. We carried out the recovery rate experiments to determine the most reliable method for a rapid and cost-effective application to extract microplastics from the beach wrack. The aeration of media in a saturated solution of sodium chloride revealed to be statistically significant and reliable, therefore was selected as a most suitable to extract the microplastics from the beach wrack. This study shows that the concentration of microplastics is significantly different between the four analyzed compartments in the coastal zone. The microplastic concentration in a beach wrack, with a mean value of 0.47 ± 0.17 items/cm3, contained 4.7 times more microplastics than observed in the surface sand samples. This study estimated that on average over 450 million microplastic items could be found during the castaway event in the South-East Baltic Sea coast.
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Two simple washing procedures allow the extraction of positively buoyant microplastics (>500 μm) from beach wrack
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Researchers developed two simple washing procedures for extracting positively buoyant microplastics larger than 500 micrometers from organic-rich beach wrack material such as seagrass and seaweed. The novel methods were tested with spiked samples and proved effective for recovering different plastic polymer types.
Seagrass beds reveal high abundance of microplastic in sediments: A case study in the Baltic Sea
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Seagrass bed sediments in the Baltic Sea were found to harbor significantly higher microplastic concentrations than surrounding bare sediments, indicating that seagrass canopies trap and accumulate microplastics and may be underappreciated hotspots of contamination.
Experiment on washing procedures to extract positively buoyant microplastics (> 500 µm) from beach wrack
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Researchers tested two washing procedures for extracting positively buoyant microplastics larger than 500 micrometers from beach wrack (marine debris strand lines) using a prototype beach wrack-plastic separator device. They compared the efficiency of different washing intensities and found that moderate washing recovered the most microplastics without damaging them. The study contributes to standardizing methods for sampling microplastics from beach wrack.
Spatio-temporal variability in the abundance and composition of beach litter and microplastics along the Baltic Sea coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
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Beach litter and microplastics (20-5000 microns) were co-assessed along the Baltic Sea coast of Schleswig-Holstein in spring and autumn 2018, finding no correlation between macro and microplastic abundances, with a median of 2 microplastic particles per 500 g dry sediment and six polymer types identified.
Sources and fate of microplastics in marine and beach sediments of the Southern Baltic Sea—a preliminary study
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Researchers investigated microplastic sources and distribution in marine and beach sediments of the southern Baltic Sea — one of the most polluted regional seas — using density extraction and FT-IR identification. The study found widespread contamination with significant variability tied to local sources and hydrodynamic transport patterns.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.