title: Small-scale temporal and spatial variability in the abundance of plastic pellets on sandy beaches: Methodological considerations for estimating the input of microplastics.
abstract: Microplastics such as pellets have been reported for many years on sandy beaches around the globe. Nevertheless, high variability is observed in their estimates and distribution patterns across the beach environment are still to be unravelled. Here, we investigate the small-scale temporal and spatial variability in the abundance of pellets in the intertidal zone of a sandy beach and evaluate factors that can increase the variability in data sets. The abundance of pellets was estimated during twelve consecutive tidal cycles, identifying the position of the high tide between cycles and sampling drift-lines across the intertidal zone. We demonstrate that beach dynamic processes such as the overlap of strandlines and artefacts of the methods can increase the small-scale variability. The results obtained are discussed in terms of the methodological considerations needed to understand the distribution of pellets in the beach environment, with special implications for studies focused on patterns of input.
authors.affiliation: Oceanographic Institute, University of São Paulo, 05508-120, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fabiana Tavares
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Moreira
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos do Mar, Universidade Federal do Paraná, 83255-000, Pontal do Paraná, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alessandro Lívio
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Prantoni
authors.affiliation: Núcleo de Pesquisa de Ciências (NUPESC), Rio de Janeiro RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Martini
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos do Mar, Universidade Federal do Paraná, 83255-000, Pontal do Paraná, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: Michelle Alves
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: de Abreu
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos do Mar, Universidade Federal do Paraná, 83255-000, Pontal do Paraná, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sérgio Biato
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Stoiev
authors.affiliation: Oceanographic Institute, University of São Paulo, 05508-120, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: turra@usp.br.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Turra
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010316:Particle Size; D010969:Plastics / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D014872:Water Movements
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D010969:Plastics
keywords: Input; Solid wastes; Strandline; Tidal cycle; Transect