Citizen scientists reveal: marine litter pollutes Arctic beaches and affects wild life
Recent data indicate accumulation areas of marine litter in Arctic waters and significant increases on the seafloor over time. Beaches on remote Arctic islands may be sinks for marine litter and reflect pollution levels of the surrounding waters particularly well. We provide the first quantitative d...
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ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:48976 2023-05-15T14:23:16+02:00 Citizen scientists reveal: marine litter pollutes Arctic beaches and affects wild life Bergmann, Melanie Lutz, Birgit Tekman, Mine Banu Gutow, Lars 2019-01-24 https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/48976/ https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.c99bd7fe-4698-4765-8626-f7d23e7cbb1b unknown Bergmann, M. orcid:0000-0001-5212-9808 , Lutz, B. , Tekman, M. B. orcid:0000-0002-6915-0176 and Gutow, L. orcid:0000-0002-9017-0083 (2019) Citizen scientists reveal: marine litter pollutes Arctic beaches and affects wild life , Arctic Frontiers 2019, Tromsoe, 21 January 2019 - 25 January 2019 . hdl:10013/epic.c99bd7fe-4698-4765-8626-f7d23e7cbb1b EPIC3Arctic Frontiers 2019, Tromsoe, 2019-01-21-2019-01-25 Conference notRev 2019 ftawi 2021-12-24T15:44:28Z Recent data indicate accumulation areas of marine litter in Arctic waters and significant increases on the seafloor over time. Beaches on remote Arctic islands may be sinks for marine litter and reflect pollution levels of the surrounding waters particularly well. We provide the first quantitative data from surveys carried out by citizen scientists, which participated in sailing cruises around Svalbard in 2016. Litter quantities on six beaches varied from 9 - 524 g m-2 and were similar to those from densely populated areas. Plastics accounted for > 80% of the overall litter, most of which originated from fisheries. Photographs provided by citizens show deleterious effects of beach litter on Arctic wildlife including polar bears (Ursus maritimus), which is already under strong pressure from global climate change. Our study highlights the potential of citizen scientists to provide scientifically valuable data on the pollution of sensitive remote ecosystems. Similar programmes could be adopted in other poorly sampled areas of the world to increase our knowledge base and to stimulate a sense of connectedness with the environment visited. Conference Object Arctic Arctic Climate change Svalbard Ursus maritimus Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Arctic Svalbard |
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Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
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description |
Recent data indicate accumulation areas of marine litter in Arctic waters and significant increases on the seafloor over time. Beaches on remote Arctic islands may be sinks for marine litter and reflect pollution levels of the surrounding waters particularly well. We provide the first quantitative data from surveys carried out by citizen scientists, which participated in sailing cruises around Svalbard in 2016. Litter quantities on six beaches varied from 9 - 524 g m-2 and were similar to those from densely populated areas. Plastics accounted for > 80% of the overall litter, most of which originated from fisheries. Photographs provided by citizens show deleterious effects of beach litter on Arctic wildlife including polar bears (Ursus maritimus), which is already under strong pressure from global climate change. Our study highlights the potential of citizen scientists to provide scientifically valuable data on the pollution of sensitive remote ecosystems. Similar programmes could be adopted in other poorly sampled areas of the world to increase our knowledge base and to stimulate a sense of connectedness with the environment visited. |
format |
Conference Object |
author |
Bergmann, Melanie Lutz, Birgit Tekman, Mine Banu Gutow, Lars |
spellingShingle |
Bergmann, Melanie Lutz, Birgit Tekman, Mine Banu Gutow, Lars Citizen scientists reveal: marine litter pollutes Arctic beaches and affects wild life |
author_facet |
Bergmann, Melanie Lutz, Birgit Tekman, Mine Banu Gutow, Lars |
author_sort |
Bergmann, Melanie |
title |
Citizen scientists reveal: marine litter pollutes Arctic beaches and affects wild life |
title_short |
Citizen scientists reveal: marine litter pollutes Arctic beaches and affects wild life |
title_full |
Citizen scientists reveal: marine litter pollutes Arctic beaches and affects wild life |
title_fullStr |
Citizen scientists reveal: marine litter pollutes Arctic beaches and affects wild life |
title_full_unstemmed |
Citizen scientists reveal: marine litter pollutes Arctic beaches and affects wild life |
title_sort |
citizen scientists reveal: marine litter pollutes arctic beaches and affects wild life |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/48976/ https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.c99bd7fe-4698-4765-8626-f7d23e7cbb1b |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Climate change Svalbard Ursus maritimus |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Climate change Svalbard Ursus maritimus |
op_source |
EPIC3Arctic Frontiers 2019, Tromsoe, 2019-01-21-2019-01-25 |
op_relation |
Bergmann, M. orcid:0000-0001-5212-9808 , Lutz, B. , Tekman, M. B. orcid:0000-0002-6915-0176 and Gutow, L. orcid:0000-0002-9017-0083 (2019) Citizen scientists reveal: marine litter pollutes Arctic beaches and affects wild life , Arctic Frontiers 2019, Tromsoe, 21 January 2019 - 25 January 2019 . hdl:10013/epic.c99bd7fe-4698-4765-8626-f7d23e7cbb1b |
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1766295827640221696 |