Transboundary movement of marine litter in an estuarine gradient: Evaluating sources and sinks using hydrodynamic modelling and ground truthing estimates.
Marine debris' transboundary nature and new strategies to identify sources and sinks in coastal areas were investigated along the Paranaguá estuarine gradient (southern Brazil), through integration of hydrodynamic modelling, ground truthing estimates and regressive vector analysis. The simulated release of virtual particles in different parts of the inner estuary suggests a residence time shorter than 5days before being exported through the estuary mouth (intermediate compartment) to the open ocean. Stranded litter supported this pathway, with beaches in the internal compartment presenting proportionally more items from domestic sources, while fragmented items with unknown sources were proportionally more abundant in the oceanic beaches. Regressive vector analysis reinforced the inner estuarine origin of the stranded litter in both estuarine and oceanic beaches. These results support the applicability of simple hydrodynamic models to address marine debris' transboundary issues in the land-sea transition zone, thus supporting an ecosystem transboundary (and not territorial) management approach.
Federal Institute of Paraná (IFPR), Paranaguá Campus, Natural Resources Department, Antônio Carlos Rodrigues St. 453, 83215-750 Paranaguá, Paraná, Brazil. Electronic address: allan.krelling@ifpr.edu.br.
Allan Paul
AP
Krelling
Federal University of Paraná, (UFPR), Center for Marine Studies (CEM), Coastal and Oceanic Systems Graduate Program (PGSISCO), Av. Beira-Mar, s/n, 83255-976 Pontal do Paraná, Paraná, Brazil. Electronic address: mihaelsouza@gmail.com.
Mihael Machado
MM
Souza
University of Wales, Trinity St David, School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering, Mt Pleasant, Swansea SA1 6ED, Wales, United Kingdom; Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences, (CICS. NOVA.FCSH/UNL), Avenida de Berna, 26 C, 1069-061 Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address: allan.williams512@uwtsd.ac.uk.
Allan Thomas
AT
Williams
University of São Paulo (USP), Department of Biological Oceanography, Oceanographic Institute (IOUSP), Praça do Oceanográfico, 191, 05508-120 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: turra@usp.br.
Alexander
A
Turra
D001938:Brazil; D063366:Estuaries; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010969:Plastics; D014866:Waste Products
D010969:Plastics; D014866:Waste Products
Estuarine complex; Marine debris; Marine litter; Modelling; Transboundary