TY - JOUR

T1 - Evaluating microplastic trapping efficiency in seagrass meadows using hydraulic flume simulations

AU - Cousins, Abi

AU - Dunn, Christian

AU - Aberg, Dan

AU - Williams, Max

AU - Smyth, Abi

AU - Green, Mattias

AU - Kurr, Martyn

PY - 2025/2/11

Y1 - 2025/2/11

N2 - Microplastic (MP) pollution poses a significant environmental threat, with projections indicating a 50-fold increase in pollution levels by 2100. Seagrass meadows, important for carbon storage and sediment stabilisation, may also serve as a Nature-based Solution for MP pollution. Despite the well-documented presence of MPs in seagrass sediments, the efficiencies of MP capture by these habitats remain largely unexplored. In this study, hydraulic flume simulations were conducted to assess how different seagrass planting configurations influence MP trapping. The results indicate that meadows with random spatial distribution are 6 % more effective at trapping MPs under high concentrations compared to grid-patterned meadows, while lower planting densities enhance trapping efficiency by 14 %. These findings offer insights into optimising seagrass restoration efforts for mitigating MP pollution, and this highlights the need for further needed to understand the broader ecological implications of MP retention in these critical ecosystems.

AB - Microplastic (MP) pollution poses a significant environmental threat, with projections indicating a 50-fold increase in pollution levels by 2100. Seagrass meadows, important for carbon storage and sediment stabilisation, may also serve as a Nature-based Solution for MP pollution. Despite the well-documented presence of MPs in seagrass sediments, the efficiencies of MP capture by these habitats remain largely unexplored. In this study, hydraulic flume simulations were conducted to assess how different seagrass planting configurations influence MP trapping. The results indicate that meadows with random spatial distribution are 6 % more effective at trapping MPs under high concentrations compared to grid-patterned meadows, while lower planting densities enhance trapping efficiency by 14 %. These findings offer insights into optimising seagrass restoration efforts for mitigating MP pollution, and this highlights the need for further needed to understand the broader ecological implications of MP retention in these critical ecosystems.

KW - Seagrass

KW - Microplastics

KW - Hydraulic Flume

KW - Nature-based Solution

U2 - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2025.117660

DO - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2025.117660

M3 - Article

VL - 213

JO - Marine Pollution Bulletin

JF - Marine Pollution Bulletin

SN - 0025-326X

M1 - 117660

ER -