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Modeling Plastics Exposure for the Marine Biota: Risk Maps for Fin Whales in the Pelagos Sanctuary (North-Western Mediterranean)
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Researchers developed risk maps for fin whale exposure to plastic pollution in the Pelagos Sanctuary of the northwestern Mediterranean, modeling where whales are most likely to encounter and ingest microplastics based on oceanographic transport patterns and whale habitat use. The study provides a practical tool for assessing plastic pollution risks to endangered marine megafauna in protected marine areas.
The Mediterranean basin is among the most impacted marine ecoregions globally, being at the same time semi-enclosed by densely populated countries and crossed by trafficked maritime routes. Such anthropogenic pressure threatens both the quality of its waters and the high biodiversity living in them, making the role of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) crucial for preserving species suitable habitats. Under the European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive, marine litter has been recognized as one of the principal causes of marine pollution, and public awareness on its environmental and biological impacts is raising. Using a quantitative and data-driven modelling approach, here we assess the presence of plastic waste within the feeding grounds of the fin whale Balaenoptera physalus, an endangered cetacean for which there is increasing evidence of impacts due to microplastic ingestion. To this end, we analyze a decade (2000 - 2010) of advection patterns of marine plastic litter, modelled with a Lagrangian approach. Particles are released in the MPA Pelagos, the International Sanctuary for the Protection of Mediterranean Marine Mammals (North-Western Mediterranean, between France, Italy and Monaco), from different sources (i.e., untreated waste along coasts, plastic discharged from rivers and plastic pollution released along maritime shipping routes). Risk of exposure of fin whales to microplastic pollution is evaluated by interlacing plastic litter distribution maps obtained through modelling with maps of suitable habitats obtained from the elaboration of satellite chlorophyll-a data in species-specific visited areas. Our modelling results show that all the three main sources of plastic litter taken into account clearly contribute to impacting cetaceans in the Sanctuary, yet in a different manner. The procedure formalized here can be extended to assess the risk caused by plastic pollution in other MPAs as well as to evaluate possible impacts on other taxa, thus informing targeted actions to tackle the complex issue of marine litter.
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Modelling plastics exposure for the marine biota: Risk maps for fin whales in the Pelagos Sanctuary (North-Western Mediterranean)
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Researchers modeled microplastic exposure for fin whales in the Mediterranean Sea, creating risk maps based on whale habitat use and microplastic distribution. The study found high overlap between whale feeding areas and areas of elevated microplastic concentrations, suggesting significant ingestion risk for this endangered species.
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Researchers used ocean circulation models and whale habitat models to investigate the overlap between marine litter accumulation zones and fin whale feeding grounds in the Mediterranean's Pelagos Sanctuary. They found that modeled plastic debris convergence areas coincided with areas where fin whales are most likely to feed. The study raises concerns that filter-feeding whales in this marine protected area may be regularly exposed to elevated levels of microplastic and macrolitter.
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Researchers modeled microplastic transport and cetacean ingestion risk in the Mediterranean's Pelagos Sanctuary, combining Lagrangian ocean simulations with chemical transport processes. The study highlights how plastic pollution hotspots overlap with the habitat of whales and dolphins, increasing their ingestion risk.
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