Role of saltmarsh systems in estuarine trapping of microplastics.

ABSTRACT: Saltmarshes are important natural ecosystems along many temperate (and other) coastlines. They stabilize sediments and act as biofilters for a range of industrial pollutants and, potentially, microplastics. Accumulation of microplastics along estuarine coastlines may be enhanced by the presence of saltmarsh species, as they offer better particle trapping efficiency than adjacent intertidal mudflats under prevailing flood and ebb tidal currents. However, the trapping efficiency of entire saltmarsh systems under varying flow conditions has not been widely assessed. While the effects of saltmarsh systems on water flow, and on sediment transport and trapping, have been relatively well studied, little is known about the contributions of saltmarsh halophytes, resident organisms and the associate

SUBMITTER: Ogbuagu CC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9477837 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature