Surface water circulation develops seasonally changing patterns of floating litter accumulation in the Mediterranean Sea. A modelling approach

Macías, Diego; Cózar, Andrés; García-Górriz, Elisa; González-Fernández, Daniel; Adolf, Stips

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110619

Cited by 64 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Despite the presence of such frameworks, agreements and initiatives, the Med-LME still is one of the most impacted regions of the world ( Costello et al, 2010 ) with unsustainable fishing pressure and overexploitation of many stocks ( FAO, 2018b ), increase in invasive species ( Katsanevakis et al, 2014 ), in plastic/litter pollution ( Cózar et al, 2015 ; Macias et al, 2019 ) and extreme climate events ( Verdura et al, 2019 ). Major causes behind this degradation are related to the socio-political complexity of the region (21 countries from Europe, Asia and Africa with different political and cultural systems), the inadequacies of national management plans and, often, to the non-observance of scientific advices ( Cardinale et al, 2017 ).…”

Section: The Living Marine Resources: An Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The living marine resources in the Mediterranean Sea Large Marine Ecosystem

Piroddi

Colloca

Tsikliras

2020

Environmental Development

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The Mediterranean Large Marine Ecosystem (Med-LME) is a heterogeneous system that, despite its oligotrophic nature, has high diversity of marine species and high rate of endemism, making it one of the world hotspots for marine biodiversity. The basin is also among the most impacted Large Marine Ecosystems in the world due to the combined multiple stressors, such as fishing pressure, habitat loss and degradation, climate change, pollution, eutrophication and the introduction of invasive species. The complexity of Med-LME in its structure/function and dynamics, combined with the socio-political framework of the region make management of its marine resources quite challenging. This contribution aims at highlighting the importance of the Med-LME, with an emphasis on the state of its food web and of its fish/fisheries using modelling tools and national/international reporting. The purpose is to demonstrate the importance of an holistic framework, based on stock assessments and ecosystem based modelling approaches, to be adopted in support of management and conservation measures for the preservation and sustainable use of the Med-LME resources.

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Section: The Living Marine Resources: An Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The living marine resources in the Mediterranean Sea Large Marine Ecosystem

Piroddi

Colloca

Tsikliras

2020

Environmental Development

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“…Zambianchi et al (2017) followed the probabilistic approach by Maximenko et al (2012) to identify marine litter retention areas, using a Lagrangian drifter dataset. Macias et al (2019) investigated the seasonality in floating litter patterns, induced by surface circulation. Kaandorp et al (2020) followed an inverse modeling approach to estimate plastic sources and major sinks (beaching and sedimentation) in the Mediterranean, based on a best fit of simulated plastics concentrations against available in situ data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the Pathways and Accumulation Patterns of Micro- and Macro-Plastics in the Mediterranean

et al. 2021

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The Mediterranean is considered a hot-spot for plastic pollution, due to its semi-enclosed nature and heavily populated coastal areas. In the present study, a basin-scale coupled hydrodynamic/particle drift model was used to track the pathways and fate of plastics from major land-based sources (coastal cities and rivers), taking into account of the most important processes (advection, stokes drift, vertical and horizontal mixing, sinking, wind drag, and beaching). A hybrid ensemble Kalman filter algorithm was implemented to correct the near- surface circulation, assimilating satellite data (sea surface height, temperature) in the hydrodynamic model. Different size classes and/or types of both micro- and macroplastics were considered in the model. Biofouling induced sinking was explicitly described, as a possible mechanism of microplastics removal from the surface. A simplified parameterization of size-dependent biofilm growth has been adopted, as a function of bacterial biomass (obtained from a biogeochemical model simulation), being considered a proxy for the biofouling community. The simulated distributions for micro- and macroplastics were validated against available observations, showing reasonable agreement, both in terms of magnitude and horizontal variability. An 8-year simulation was used to identify micro- and macroplastics accumulation patterns in the surface layer, water column, seafloor and beaches. The impact of different processes (vertical mixing, biofouling, and wind/wave drift) was identified through a series of sensitivity experiments. For both micro- and macroplastics, distributions at sea surface were closely related to the adopted sources. The microplastics concentration was drastically reduced away from source areas, due to biofouling induced sinking, with their size distribution dominated by larger (>1 mm) size classes in open sea areas, in agreement with observations. High concentration patches of floating plastics were simulated in convergence areas, characterized by anticyclonic circulation. The distribution of macroplastics on beaches followed the predominant southeastward wind/wave direction. In the water column, a sub-surface maximum in microplastics abundance was simulated, with increasing contribution of smaller particles in deeper layers. Accumulation of microplastics on the seafloor was limited in relatively shallow areas (<500 m), with bottom depth below their relaxation depth due to defouling. The simulated total amount of floating plastics (∼3,760 tonnes) is comparable with estimates from observations.

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“…Being a semi-enclosed and convective basin, the Mediterranean Sea is a high plastic accumulation region, from where plastic debris can hardly elude (Cózar et al, 2015;Suaria et al, 2016;Macias et al, 2019). One of the latest basin-scale surveys estimated that 11.5 million of plastic pieces are floating over the entire Mediterranean region (Lambert et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interplay Between Nanoplastics and the Immune System of the Mediterranean Sea Urchin Paracentrotus lividus

et al. 2021

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The present study highlights for the first time the interplay between model nanoplastics, such as the carboxyl-modified polystyrene nanoparticles (PS-COOH, 60 nm) NPs and the coelomocytes of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, a benthic grazer widely distributed in Mediterranean coastal area, upon acute in vitro exposure (4 h) (5 and 25 μg mL–1). Insight into PS-COOH trafficking (uptake and clearance) and effects on immune cell functions (i.e., cell viability, lysosomal membrane stability, and phagocytosis) are provided. Dynamic Light Scattering analysis reveals that PS NP suspensions in CF undergo a quick agglomeration, more pronounced for PS-COOH (608.3 ± 43 nm) compared to PS-NH2 (329.2 ± 5 nm). However, both PS NPs are still found as nano-scale agglomerates in CF after 4 h of exposure, as shown by the polydispersity index > 0.3 associated with the presence of different PS NP size populations in the CF. The observed changes in ζ-potential upon suspension in CF (–11.1 ± 3 mV and –12.1 ± 4 mV for PS-COOH and PS-NH2, respectively) confirm the formation of a bio-corona on both PS NPs. Optical fluorescence microscopy and fluorimetric analyses using fluorescently labeled PS-COOH (60 nm) reveal a fast uptake of PS-COOH primarily by phagocytes within 1 h of exposure. Upon transfer to PS NP-free CF, a significant decrease in fluorescence signal is observed, suggesting a fast cell clearance. No effect on cell viability is observed after 4 h of exposure to PS-COOH, however a significant decrease in lysosomal membrane stability (23.7 ± 4.8%) and phagocytic capacity (63.43 ± 3.4%) is observed at the highest concentration tested. Similarly, a significant reduction in cell viability, lysosomal membrane stability and phagocytosis is found upon exposure to PS-NH2 (25 μg mL–1), which confirms the important role of surface charges in triggering immunotoxicity. Overall, our results show that, although being quickly internalized, PS-COOH can be easily eliminated by the coelomocytes but may still be able to trigger an immune response upon long-term exposure scenarios. Taking into account that sediments along Mediterranean coasts are a sink for micro- and nanoplastics, the latter can reach concentrations able to exceed toxicity-thresholds for marine benthic species.

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Surface water circulation develops seasonally changing patterns of floating litter accumulation in the Mediterranean Sea. A modelling approach

Cited by 64 publications

References 55 publications

The living marine resources in the Mediterranean Sea Large Marine Ecosystem

The living marine resources in the Mediterranean Sea Large Marine Ecosystem

Modeling the Pathways and Accumulation Patterns of Micro- and Macro-Plastics in the Mediterranean

Interplay Between Nanoplastics and the Immune System of the Mediterranean Sea Urchin Paracentrotus lividus

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