ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Pollution
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1663783
This article is part of the Research TopicFrom Micro to Macro: Interactions of Marine Biota with Plastic PollutionView all 5 articles
The trapping of microplastics in the Posidonia oceanica aegagropiles in Tunisian coastal areas – Southern Mediterranea
Provisionally accepted
- 1National Institute of Marine Sciences and Technologies, 28, rue 2 mars 1934, 2025 Salammbô, Tunis, Tunisia, Tunis, Tunisia
- 2Universite de Carthage Institut Superieur des Sciences et Technologies de l'Environnement de Borj Cedria, Borj Cédria, Tunisia
- 3Universite de Tunis El Manar Faculte des Sciences de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
- 4Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer, Salambo, Tunisia
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Plastic and microplastic debris (MP) constitute the most important pollutants of the solid litter with a high risk of sediment accumulation. Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile is the main marine seagrass of the Mediterranean Sea which forms immense underwater meadows and deposits of seagrass beds covering the facades of sandy beaches. They are formed by roots and rhizome fragments gathered in fibrous marine balls, called aegagropiles (EGs) having the ability to trap several pollutants from the beaches and mainly microplastic. The present study aims at evaluating microplastic contamination in aegagropiles collected from four locations along the Tunisian coast in the southern Mediterranean basin (two northern sites (S1 and S2) and two southern-central sites (S3 and S4). Microscopic analysis revealed that red and blue microplastics dominated at all sites, with black fibers and fragments being the most prevalent forms and yellow (S3) and transparent particles in S1, S2 and S4. Polymer identification conducted using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), detected microplastic types with contamination levels and microplastic accumulation variation among the four sites including polystyrene (PS) at sites S1, S3, and S4; ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA) at S1 and S3; polyethylene terephthalate (PET) at S1 and S2; polyvinyl chloride (PVC) at S2 and S3. Our results highlight close relationships between anthropogenic activities, extensive plastic use, and elevated microplastic pollution in marine ecosystems, particularly in seagrass beds. These findings emphasize the importance of monitoring microplastic contamination to preserve the health of Mediterranean coastal environments.
Keywords: Posidonia oceanica, aegagropile, Microplastics, acid digestion, NMR spectroscopy, FTIR, Stereomicroscopy
Received: 10 Jul 2025; Accepted: 17 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sghaier, Chniti, Barhoumi-Slimi, Zaaboub and EL Bour. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dhouha Belhadj Sghaier, dhouhasghaier@hotmail.fr
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