Abstract
Beach litter threatens coastal dunes integrity across the world. European countries are committed to improving the environmental status of the marine and coastal environment by 2020, and to do this, they need to reduce the gap of knowledge about litter accumulation patterns in coastal environments. We analyzed the distribution pattern of waste, differentiated by material and origin, in the coastal dune vegetation mosaic along protected natural areas in the Adriatic seashore (central Italy). Litter data were collected following a random stratified procedure. We registered litter occurrence on 180 (2 × 2 m) sampling plots randomly distributed in the different habitats of European conservation concern mapped for the analyzed protected areas. Litter was classified by origin and material, and their abundance on different habitats was explored by multivariate ordination techniques and tested by nonparametric ANOVA followed by Mann-Whitney pairwise post-hoc tests. Most of the plots included at least one waste element being plastic. Plastic was the most abundant material, and fishing and touristic the most polluting activities. Waste distribution varies across coastal dune vegetation types and involves the back dune zone too. Our results stress the need for (a) specific cleaning tasks able to preserve the ecological value of coastal dune habitats and (b) actions aimed at preventing litter production and accumulation.
Highlights
The presence of macro litter on sandy beaches and dunes represents a widespread and very serious environmental stress impinging coastal areas of the world [1,2]
A recent review based on litter data extracted existing reports (Regional Sea Conventions) and an ad hoc analysis of a beach litter data set from the year 2016 underline that plastic waste represents over 80% of marine litter items accumulated on European beaches [15]
Single-use plastic waste represents a large part of marine beach litter, and for this reason, they have been recently targeted in the EU Strategy for Plastics in the Circular Economy promulgated in the year 2018 [15]
Summary
The presence of macro litter on sandy beaches and dunes represents a widespread and very serious environmental stress impinging coastal areas of the world [1,2]. Macro beach litter is made up of accumulated debris between 2.5 cm and 100 cm long [3], is non-biodegradable and highly fragmentable waste, accidentally or intentionally abandoned in coastal dunes. A recent review based on litter data extracted existing reports (Regional Sea Conventions) and an ad hoc analysis of a beach litter data set from the year 2016 underline that plastic waste represents over 80% of marine litter items accumulated on European beaches [15]. Single-use plastic waste represents a large part of marine beach litter, and for this reason, they have been recently targeted in the EU Strategy for Plastics in the Circular Economy promulgated in the year 2018 [15]
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