Drivers and effects of plastic contamination in aquatic ecosystems
type: CreativeWork
description: Marine litter indicates any solid material manufactured or processed by man, which is discarded or disposed in the marine environment after its use. The most prevalent sort of marine litter is plastic, which is found in all aquatic ecosystems, even in remote areas far from human activities. Plastic already dispersed in the marine environment undergoes through environmental degradation and is further fragmented into smaller particles which called MicroPlastics (MPs), with a dimension comprised between 1μm and 5mm. The thesis aims to analyse the spatial and temporal variability of seafloor macro-litter in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Geographical Sub-Area 11 (Sardinian seas, western Mediterranean) and to test whether different litter categories may result in geographically segregated seafloor litter hotspots. Analyses are based on data on different litter categories (plastic, rubber, metal, glass, cloth, wood, paper, other) collected over a 7 years period, in the framework of the MEDiterranean International Trawl Survey. Results show the absence of any temporal trend in seafloor macro-litter density and weight, but rather indicate a spatial and bathymetric segregation of different litter categories. The data shows how different sources and physical features of macro-litter items (i.e., plastic and fishing gear, rubber, glass, metals, and cloth) led to spatially segregated accumulation hotspots. (Chapter 2). Accumulation hotspots, moreover, can be source of MPs that can eventually contaminate benthic fauna. In Chapter 3, the exposure to MPs was evaluated using economically and ecologically key crustaceans Palinurus elephas (Fabricius, 1787) and Nephrops norvegicus (Linnaeus, 1758) collected from sites located on the western coast of Sardinia, at depths comprised between 25 and 660 m was investigated. The results suggest that both P. elephas and N. norvegicus could be valuable bioindicators and charismatic species that could represent excellent flagship s…
abstract: Marine litter indicates any solid material manufactured or processed by man, which is discarded or disposed in the marine environment after its use. The most prevalent sort of marine litter is plastic, which is found in all aquatic ecosystems, even in remote areas far from human activities. Plastic already dispersed in the marine environment undergoes through environmental degradation and is further fragmented into smaller particles which called MicroPlastics (MPs), with a dimension comprised between 1μm and 5mm. The thesis aims to analyse the spatial and temporal variability of seafloor macro-litter in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Geographical Sub-Area 11 (Sardinian seas, western Mediterranean) and to test whether different litter categories may result in geographically segregated seafloor litter hotspots. Analyses are based on data on different litter categories (plastic, rubber, metal, glass, cloth, wood, paper, other) collected over a 7 years period, in the framework of the MEDiterranean International Trawl Survey. Results show the absence of any temporal trend in seafloor macro-litter density and weight, but rather indicate a spatial and bathymetric segregation of different litter categories. The data shows how different sources and physical features of macro-litter items (i.e., plastic and fishing gear, rubber, glass, metals, and cloth) led to spatially segregated accumulation hotspots. (Chapter 2). Accumulation hotspots, moreover, can be source of MPs that can eventually contaminate benthic fauna. In Chapter 3, the exposure to MPs was evaluated using economically and ecologically key crustaceans Palinurus elephas (Fabricius, 1787) and Nephrops norvegicus (Linnaeus, 1758) collected from sites located on the western coast of Sardinia, at depths comprised between 25 and 660 m was investigated. The results suggest that both P. elephas and N. norvegicus could be valuable bioindicators and charismatic species that could represent excellent flagship s…
author: GORULE, PANKAJ AVINASH
language: eng
keywords: Settore BIO/07 - Ecologia
date published: 2023-04-26T00:00:00+02:00
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:29:52Z
provider: Università di Cagliari
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Università degli Studi di Cagliari

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/11584/369226