Adriatic Forum ICZM Expert Group

Ancona (I) July 15 2006, Palombina beach

Palombina beachThe scientific approach

Antonio Pusceddu

To the casual observer, beaches may simply appear as barren stretches of sand - beautiful, but desert-like systems

On the contrary, beaches are diverse and productive transitional ecosystems that serve as the critical link between marine and terrestrial environments.

Sandy beaches provide habitats for hundreds of plant and animal species (most of which are insects and worms)

Beaches support a rich trophic web of life in the adjacent submerged marine system, which includes worms, bivalves, and crustaceans

Beaches are not deserts: they play a key role in coastal ecology

For their boundary position, beaches represent the conveyor location integrating terrestrial and marine ecosystem services and as such they’re exploited for a variety of human activities

COASTAL COASTAL RECLAMATIONRECLAMATION

ACCIDENTS AT ACCIDENTS AT SEA (OIL SEA (OIL SPILLS)SPILLS)

INDUSTRIAL, INDUSTRIAL, DOMESTIC AND DOMESTIC AND AGRICULTURE AGRICULTURE WASTESWASTES

TOURISMTOURISM

RENOURISHMENTRENOURISHMENT

ANTI-EROSIONANTI-EROSIONTOOLSTOOLS

Beach and bathing-related recreational management is an important component of Integrated Coastal Zone Management.

This is even exacerbated for those beaches located in urban coastal areas where the quality of the recreational resource is continuously threatened by the anthropogenic pressure

But, we’re still searching for batteries of indicators for assessing the “health” of beach ecosystems and also exploring new tools for remediation

Beaches and ICZM

• Located between the port of Ancona and the API oil refinery

• Compressed by two very stiff transport pathways (the SS.19 (Flaminia) and the national railway Bologna – Lecce)

• Important recreational and bathing uses• Degeneration of water quality in summertime

related to eutrophication • Therefore, we need integrated actions and tools for

addressing these cross-cutting ecological and socio-economic issues

The PALOMBINA Beach: a typical example of conflicting uses of the shorelines between industrial, urban and environmental services

Is the Palombina Beach human-affected? Evidences from a Beach Litter survey

Beach litter’ is among the more evident indicators of human impact on the coastal marine environment

It includes:wood, glass, organic detritus, plastics, tissues

Only a limited fraction is “natural”: the more abundant fractions is anthropogenic

BBeach littereach litter

What about Palombina?What about Palombina?

Sampling

• Summer and Winter 2002

• 8 transects of 5 stations each

• At each station “beach litter” (> 0.5 cm) collected from 1m2 squares (3 replicates per station)

• Organic load (gravimetric) and meiofauna (sand worms)

ResultsResults

Accumulation close to the API refinery

No temporal variations

0

10

20

30

40

50

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

g m

-2

Summer Winter

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Summer Winter

g m

-2

Composizione del beach litterSpiaggia di Palombina - Estate

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Transetto

Altro Carta Materiale organico

Gomma Legno Metallo

Plastica Tessuti Vetro

A

Composizione del beach litterSpiaggia di Palombina - Inverno

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Transetto

Altro Carta Materiale organico

Gomma Legno Metallo

Plastica Tessuti Vetro

A

Litter in Litter in PalombinaPalombina

• Relatively constant composition

• Dominance of marine organic detritus

• Increase of plastics in summer

Abbondanza del beach litterPalombina - Estate

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Transetto

Massa del beach litterPalombina - Estate

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Transetto

88 ± 9 %

12 ± 9 %

83 ± 12 %

17 ± 12 %

Biodegradabile Non biodegradabile

Abbondanza del beach litterPalombina - Estate

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Transetto

Massa del beach litterPalombina - Estate

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Transetto

88 ± 9 %

12 ± 9 %

83 ± 12 %

17 ± 12 %

Biodegradabile Non biodegradabileBiodegradabile Non biodegradabile

Litter: Spiaggia di PalombinaLitter: Spiaggia di Palombina

• Biodegradable fraction is generally dominant

• Increase if persistent materials in summer

HydrocarbonsHydrocarbons

• No statistical differences between transects• Increase of concentrations in winter

Total IPA

0.01.02.03.04.05.06.07.08.09.0

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8Transect

mg

Kg

-1

Summer Winter

Port API

A detritus fragment trespassing the barriers is less probably removed from waves

The amount of litter remains more or less constant in summer, despite the cleaning operations

This implies major inputs in summer and accumulation of non degradable litter

Litter accumulation: the role of barriersLitter accumulation: the role of barriers

Non degradable litter

0

5

10

15

20

25

Winter Summer

g m

-2

Beach litter and ecological responseBeach litter and ecological response

The summer accumulation of organic detritus is associated with a collapse of sand living organisms as an effect of dystrophic crises

Organic detritus and meiofauna

0

5

10

15

20

Winter Summer

g m

-2

0

10

20

30

40

50

n in

d 1

0 cm

-2

Meiofauna

ConclusionsConclusions

1) Beach litter provides a syntehtic tool for assessing pressures and human impact levels of beaches

2) A seasonal sampling strategy but replicated at very short spatial scale is sufficient to detect patterns of change

3) The composition more than the quantity of litter provides elements for assessing the levels of putative impact

i) To develop new indicators, protocols and management tools able to improve socio-economic and environmental sustainability of the Palombina beach;

ii) To provide new scientific elements on actions of intervention for the quality assessment, the protection and the recovery of the beach ecosystem;

iii) To identify ecologically sustainable biotechnological solutions for improving beach utilization

What we need and aim to do