Psammophytes as traps for beach litter in the Strait of Messina (Mediterranean Sea)

In the present paper, for the first time, the presence of beach litter in dunal plants has been verified in a Strait area in an island. The aims of the present study were to evaluate if the psammophytes can act as a trap for the beached litter, to compare beach litter in plants located in beaches with different anthropogenic impacts, and to describe a new approach (namely clean patch index, CPI) to evaluated the cleanliness of dunal plants. In total 738 macro litter items, belonging to 7 litter categories were found in the study area. The main litter category collected was plastic, followed by ceramic, glass, paper/cardboard, metal, sanitary waste, and medical waste. Our results showed that psammophytes acted as a sink for the beach litter by trapping it. The CPI was higher in the dunal plants than in the relative control patches. The average dissimilarity between “Montorsoli” and “Pylon” beaches was 88.7%. The highest contribution to the dissimilarity between the two beaches was the construction material, followed by polystyrene and plastic pieces. Our data could be important for the implementation of the monitoring program within the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and may also contribute to the development of specific management of the clean-up measures as well as implement National and Regional action plans.