Dear Colleagues,

In the last century, beaches in marine or freshwater ecosystems have been subjected to diverse interests not always compatible with environmental protection and conservation. Consequently, the increase in anthropogenic litter is responsible not only for aesthetic degradation but, in particular, for extremely severe environmental damage everywhere: for example, the impact of plastic is a pandemic phenomenon involving the whole biosphere. In fact, not only birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates are involved, but also the vegetation suffers from the effects of anthropogenic litter.

Many of the littoral habitats are critical to the survival of several species; therefore, the number of studies investigating the impact of beach litter on habitats is steadily increasing. These studies show interesting interdisciplinary collaborations between biologists, botanists, chemists, eco-toxicologists, and environmental scientists.

This Special Issue aims to evaluate the impact of anthropogenic litter present in marine, lake, and river beaches on the functionality of ecosystems. The main goal of this Special Issue is to answer questions such as: 1) How does beach litter affect the environment? 2) Is there a relationship between beach litter and biodiversity dynamics? 3) How can we measure/determine the impact of beach litter on different habitats? 4) What concrete actions can we take to reduce the impact of beach litter?

Dr. Loris Pietrelli
Dr. Patrizia Menegoni
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• Marine litter
• Freshwater litter
• Coastal ecosystems
• Riparian ecosystems
• Beach litter
• Microplastics
• Pollution ecology
• Socio economic implication of beach litter
• Contribution of citizen scientists to the monitoring of beach litter