Do beachrocks affect microplastic deposition on the strandline of sandy beaches?

Lara M Pinheiro; Raqueline C P Monteiro; Juliana A Ivar do Sul; Monica F Costa

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.03.010

Do beachrocks affect microplastic deposition on the strandline of sandy beaches?

Mar Pollut Bull. 2019 Apr:141:569-572. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.03.010. Epub 2019 Mar 13.

Authors

Lara M Pinheiro¹, Raqueline C P Monteiro², Juliana A Ivar do Sul³, Monica F Costa²

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Ecology and Management of Estuarine and Coastal Environments, Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), Av. Da Arquitetura s/n, 500740-540 Recife, PE, Brazil; Laboratory of Organic Microcontaminants and Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Institute of Oceanography, Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG), Av. Itália km 8, 96201-900 Rio Grande, RS, Brazil.
² Laboratory of Ecology and Management of Estuarine and Coastal Environments, Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), Av. Da Arquitetura s/n, 500740-540 Recife, PE, Brazil.
³ Laboratory of Ecology and Management of Estuarine and Coastal Environments, Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), Av. Da Arquitetura s/n, 500740-540 Recife, PE, Brazil; Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research (IOW), Seestrasse 15, 18119 Rostock, Germany. Electronic address: julianasul@gmail.com.

PMID: 30955769
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.03.010

Abstract

The strandline is one of the first deposition habitats of microplastics before they are integrated to the beach as a standing stock or finally removed. Beaches, entirely or partially protected by beachrocks, have different sediment dynamics and therefore may present variation in microplastic deposition. The aim of this work was to test if protected and unprotected (i.e., exposed to waves) areas of a sandy beach present different microplastic accumulation on the strandline - a habitat greatly influenced by both water and sediment dynamics. Microplastic (MP) amounts were significantly higher at the protected area (M_protected = 642.6 ± 514.8 MP m^-2, M_exposed = 130.6 ± 126.8 MP m^-2, Mann-Whitney U test, U = 14.5, p = 0.0009), showing that beachrocks influence microplastic accumulation on the beach face. Therefore, hard structures parallel to the beach may also affect microplastics deposition on beach sediments, being important to consider these structures on microplastic surveys.

Keywords: Achieved sediment samples; Benthic environments; Mesoplastics; Plastic fragments; Strandline; Urban beach.

MeSH terms

Bathing Beaches*
Brazil
Ecosystem
Environmental Monitoring
Geologic Sediments
Plastics / analysis*
Water Pollutants, Chemical / analysis*

Substances

Plastics
Water Pollutants, Chemical