Carpobrotus spp. patches as trap for litter: Evidence from a Mediterranean beach

Dunal plants may affect the patterns of deposition of beach litter. In this study, we aimed at evaluating if Carpobrotus spp. patches may act as a litter trap in coastal dune systems. To do so, we counted the number of macrolitter occurring in both Carpobrotus and control (embryo dune vegetation) patches classifying each item into categories according to the Marine Strategy. Totally, we observed a significant difference between litter trapped in Carpobrotus (331 items, representing 62.4% of the total beach litter) and control (199, 37.6%). Plastic fragments were the most trapped items by both Carpobrotus (46.2%) and control patches (47.2%). We also calculated the item co-occurrence, obtaining a random aggregated 'litter community'. The main emerging output is that Carpobrotus patches act as filter in respect to different anthropogenic materials (overall plastics), suggesting that alien plant management actions may contribute to solve beach litter issues as well.

Automated summary

The study evaluated Carpobrotus spp. patches as potential litter traps in coastal dune systems, finding a significant difference in the amount of litter trapped between Carpobrotus and control patches, with plastic fragments being the most commonly trapped items. The research also suggests that managing Carpobrotus patches can contribute to solving beach litter issues by acting as a filter for anthropogenic materials, particularly plastics.