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Tier 2
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Original research — experimental, observational, or case-control study. Direct primary evidence.
Environmental Sources
Marine & Wildlife
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Spatial distribution of macro- and micro-litter items along rocky and sandy beaches of a Marine Protected Area in the western Mediterranean Sea
Marine Pollution Bulletin2022
48 citations
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Score: 45
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0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Macro- and micro-litter were mapped across rocky and sandy beaches within a marine protected area in the Balearic Islands, finding a mean macrolitter concentration of about 1.9 items per square meter and widespread microplastic presence in sandy sediments. Plastic fragments and films were the dominant litter categories, highlighting recreational pressure even in protected coastal areas.
In this study, the spatial distribution and physical characteristics of beach macro- and micro-litter within the Cabrera Archipelago Maritime-Terrestrial National Park (Cabrera MPA), in the Balearic Islands have been analysed. For macro-litter items, a mean concentration of 1.9 ± 2.4 items/m<sup>2</sup> weighing a total of 13 kg was quantified. In terms of beach composition, cobble beaches with deposited seagrass had almost twice as much marine litter as other beaches. For beach micro-litter items, white and transparent microplastics within the size class of 1-2 mm were the most abundant on all the beaches, and the most common polymer types were polyethylene (64%) and polypropylene (17.2%). Overall, for both macro- and micro-litter items, plastic was the most dominant material (90%) identified on all beaches surveyed within Cabrera MPA, indicating areas of low anthropogenic pressures are increasingly becoming sinks for marine litter.