Plant debris are hotbeds for pathogenic bacteria on recreational sandy beaches.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Suzuki Y
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8169675 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:An increasing amount of anthropogenic marine debris is pervading the earth's environmental systems, resulting in an enormous threat to living organisms. Additionally, the large amount of marine debris around the world has been investigated mostly through tedious manual methods. Therefore, we propose the use of a new technique, light detection and ranging (LIDAR), for the semi-automatic recognition of marine debris on a beach because of its substantially more efficient role in comparison with other more laborious methods. Our results revealed that LIDAR should be used for the classification of marine debris into plastic, paper, cloth and metal. Additionally, we reconstructed a 3-dimensional model of different types of debris on a beach with a high validity of debris revivification using LIDAR-based individual separation. These findings demonstrate that the availability of this new technique enables detailed observations to be made of debris on a large beach that was previously not possible. It is strongly suggested that LIDAR could be implemented as an appropriate monitoring tool for marine debris by global researchers and governments.
| S-EPMC4860581 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Species richness in sandy beaches is strongly affected by concurrent variations in morphodynamics and salinity. However, as in other ecosystems, different groups of species may exhibit contrasting patterns in response to these environmental variables, which would be obscured if only aggregate richness is considered. Deconstructing biodiversity, i.e. considering richness patterns separately for different groups of species according to their taxonomic affiliation, dispersal mode or mobility, could provide a more complete understanding about factors that drive species richness patterns. This study analyzed macroscale variations in species richness at 16 Uruguayan sandy beaches with different morphodynamics, distributed along the estuarine gradient generated by the Rio de la Plata over a 2 year period. Species richness estimates were deconstructed to discriminate among taxonomic groups, supralittoral and intertidal forms, and groups with different feeding habits and development modes. Species richness was lowest at intermediate salinities, increasing towards oceanic and inner estuarine conditions, mainly following the patterns shown for intertidal forms. Moreover, there was a differential tolerance to salinity changes according to the habitat occupied and development mode, which determines the degree of sensitivity of faunal groups to osmotic stress. Generalized (additive and linear) mixed models showed a clear increase of species richness towards dissipative beaches. All taxonomic categories exhibited the same trend, even though responses to grain size and beach slope were less marked for crustaceans and insects than for molluscs or polychaetes. However, supralittoral crustaceans exhibited the opposite trend. Feeding groups decreased from dissipative to reflective systems, deposit feeders being virtually absent in the latter. This deconstructive approach highlights the relevance of life history strategies in structuring communities, highlighting the relative importance that salinity and morphodynamic gradients have on macroscale diversity patterns in sandy beaches.
| S-EPMC3391285 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study was conducted around the beaches in Indonesia in order to investigate the level of pollution in the marine environment. Thirteen (13) locations in six (6) regions namely: Seribu Island, Banten, South Java, Biawak Islands, West Papua, and East Nusa making up a total length of 12.84 km of the area were studied. This investigation focused on the debris around isolated beaches, tourist attraction centers, fishing zones and marine protected areas (MPA). The method employed in this study was dependent on the international coastal cleanup form. The samples of debris collected and studied varied from the year 2013 to 2018 for a thorough investigation. The beach debris monitoring equipment revealed information about the distribution, abundance, types and, effects of marine debris on the ecosystem. Moreover, the study showed that the mass of debris collected within the areas listed weighted 1113.10 kg for 34,330 collected items. Also, the average density was noted to range between 1.43 and 5.11 items/m2. However, it was observed that plastic products constituted the highest percentage of the pollutants found in almost all the stations, with plastic bags being the most dominant.
| S-EPMC8841578 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Whereas most work to understand impacts of humans on biodiversity on coastal areas has focused on large, conspicuous organisms, we highlight effects of tourist access on the diversity of microscopic marine animals (meiofauna). We used a DNA metabarcoding approach with an iterative and phylogeny-based approach for the taxonomic assignment of meiofauna and relate diversity patterns to the numbers of tourists accessing sandy beaches on an otherwise un-impacted island National Park. Tourist frequentation, independently of differences in sediment granulometry, beach length, and other potential confounding factors, affected meiofaunal diversity in the shallow "swash" zone right at the mean water mark; the impacts declined with water depth (up to 2?m). The indicated negative effect on meiofauna may have a consequence on all the biota including the higher trophic levels. Thus, we claim that it is important to consider restricting access to beaches in touristic areas, in order to preserve biodiversity.
| S-EPMC7170908 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Plastic pellets are worldwide contaminants that accumulate in the ocean, especially in sandy beaches, where their historic standing-stock quantification relies on surface sediment samples. We demonstrated these particles present a three-dimensional instead of a simple along-across shore distribution, being found as deep as 2.0 m, with surface layers accounting for <10% of the total abundance in the sediment column. This gradient seemed to be more related to oceanographic rather than anthropic processes, suggesting a general pattern whose applicability to microplastics and sedimentary environments as a whole should be investigated. This poses criticism in the exactness of standing-stock records and demands urgent discussion of sampling protocols.
| S-EPMC3967197 | biostudies-other
Project description:Enterococci are used to assess the risk of negative human health impacts from recreational waters. Studies have shown sustained populations of enterococci within sediments of beaches but comprehensive surveys of multiple tidal zones on beaches in a regional area and their relationship to beach management decisions are limited. We sampled three tidal zones on eight South Florida beaches in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and found that enterococci were ubiquitous within South Florida beach sands although their levels varied greatly both among the beaches and between the supratidal, intertidal and subtidal zones. The supratidal sands consistently had significantly higher (p < 0.003) levels of enterococci (average 40 CFU/g dry sand) than the other two zones. Levels of enterococci within the subtidal sand correlated with the average level of enterococci in the water (CFU/100mL) for the season during which samples were collected (r(s) = 0.73). The average sand enterococci content over all the zones on each beach correlated with the average water enterococci levels of the year prior to sand samplings (r(s) = 0.64) as well as the average water enterococci levels for the month after sand samplings (r(s) = 0.54). Results indicate a connection between levels of enterococci in beach water and sands throughout South Florida's beaches and suggest that the sands are one of the predominant reservoirs of enterococci impacting beach water quality. As a result, beaches with lower levels of enterococci in the sand had fewer exceedences relative to beaches with higher levels of sand enterococci. More research should focus on evaluating beach sand quality as a means to predict and regulate marine recreational water quality.
| S-EPMC3228632 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Many species of birds breeding on ocean beaches and in coastal dunes are of global conservation concern. Most of these species rely on invertebrates (e.g. insects, small crustaceans) as an irreplaceable food source, foraging primarily around the strandline on the upper beach near the dunes. Sandy beaches are also prime sites for human recreation, which impacts these food resources via negative trampling effects. We quantified acute trampling impacts on assemblages of upper shore invertebrates in a controlled experiment over a range of foot traffic intensities (up to 56 steps per square metre) on a temperate beach in Victoria, Australia. Trampling significantly altered assemblage structure (species composition and density) and was correlated with significant declines in invertebrate abundance and species richness. Trampling effects were strongest for rare species. In heavily trafficked plots the abundance of sand hoppers (Amphipoda), a principal prey item of threatened Hooded Plovers breeding on this beach, was halved. In contrast to the consistently strong effects of trampling, natural habitat attributes (e.g. sediment grain size, compactness) were much less influential predictors. If acute suppression of invertebrates caused by trampling, as demonstrated here, is more widespread on beaches it may constitute a significant threat to endangered vertebrates reliant on these invertebrates. This calls for a re-thinking of conservation actions by considering active management of food resources, possibly through enhancement of wrack or direct augmentation of prey items to breeding territories.
| S-EPMC5001726 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The presence of microplastics in marine and coastal environments is an issue of concern for the preservation of these ecosystems. This dataset provides the results of the first national assessment of the presence of microplastics (<5 mm) in Mexican beaches. The research included 35 beaches along the five marine regions of the country. For each beach, ten samples (19 cm diameter, 5 cm depth) were taken along the high-tide line, and then microplastics were extracted by flotation and sieving. All the plastic particles were quantified and classified based on their colour, type of particle, and type of plastic used in their production, using visual inspection and FTIR spectroscopy. The use of the same methodology in all the beaches allowed us to compare and analyze the results, which are reported in the article Microplastics in Mexican beaches.
| S-EPMC7649470 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The arid coasts of North Africa, extending over 4633 km from the Gulf of Tunis to the Nile Delta, are undergoing pronounced shoreline retreats and coastal floodings that are reported as a consequence of the ongoing sea level rise resulting from global warming. Of particular interest are the abnormal shoreline dynamics for deltaic and sandy beaches, which are severely impacted by abrupt decadal variabilities in both climatic and anthropogenic drivers resulting in their increased vulnerability to disturbances from coastal hazards. Unfortunately, the evolution, distribution and impacts of these drivers remain largely unquantified, let alone understood, for these extensive arid coasts that harbor the major portion of North Africa's population as well as unique and fragile marine ecosystems. To address this deficiency, we use GIS-based multi-criteria approaches combined with analytic hierarchy process to map the Coastal Vulnerability Index and the Socioeconomic Vulnerability Index along these coasts to investigate the amplitude and extent of shoreline deterioration resulting from sudden fluctuations in sediment transport to the coastline. We use the western bay of the Gulf of Tunis, the coasts of Tripoli and the Nile Delta as three validation sites for our vulnerability assessment. The statistical Integrated Coastal Vulnerability Index map reveals that 47% of arid North African coasts are characterized by high to very high vulnerability. In particular, we observe that the densely populated deltaic coasts in both Tunisia and Egypt are 70% more vulnerable than any others coast in the eastern Mediterranean Basin. These abnormally high-vulnerability extensive areas are also correlated with significant deterioration of coastal aquifers and hence in crop production, compromising local food security and resulting in increasing outflow migration trends. Both Tunisia and Egypt observed dramatic increases in the net population outflow migration by respectively 62% and 248% between 2000 and 2016, mostly from coastal areas. Our source analysis of the amplitude and extent of these high coastal vulnerabilities suggests that they result from the anthropogenic drivers of damming and rapid urban growth over the last few decades rather than the effects of global warming.
| S-EPMC7840745 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Domestic dogs are the most abundant carnivore globally and have demonstrable negative impacts to wildlife; yet, little evidence regarding their functional roles in natural food webs exists. Adding dogs to food webs may result in a net loss (via suppression of naturally occurring species), net gain (via mesopredator release), or no change (via functional replacement) to ecosystem function. Scavenging is a pivotal function in ecosystems, particularly those that are energetically supported by carrion. Dogs also scavenge on animal carcasses, but whether scavenging by dogs influences the structural and functional properties of food webs remains unclear. Here we used camera traps baited with carrion to test the effect of dogs on the composition and diversity of the vertebrate scavenger guild, as well as carrion detection and consumption rates. We conducted this work in sandy beach ecosystems, which rely on the import of marine organic matter (i.e. stranding of dead marine animals). Diversity of the scavenger community was similar on beaches without dogs. Dogs increased the time it took for carcasses to be detected and decreased the proportion of carrion consumed. This 'dog suppression effect' on scavenging was stronger for nocturnal mammalian scavengers, presumably being driven by indirect trait-mediated effects, which raises further questions about the broader ecological consequences of domestic dogs in natural systems.
| S-EPMC9388640 | biostudies-literature