Microplastic Debris in Six Beaches of Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain)
MICROPLASTIC DEBRIS IN SIX BEACHES OF TENERIFE (CANARY ISLANDS, SPAIN) Clara Álvarez-Hernández1, Carlos Cairós1, Jessica López-Darias1,2, Elisa Mazzetti1, Cintia Hernández-Sánchez3,4, Javier González-Sálamo1,4, and Javier Hernández-Borges1,4,* 1Departamento de Química, Unidad Departamental de Química Analítica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL). Avda. Astrofísico Fco. Sánchez, s/nº. 38206 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain. 2Servicio General de Apoyo a la Investigación (SEGAI), Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), Avenida Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez s/n◦, 38206 La Laguna, (Tenerife), Spain. 3Departamento de Obstetricia y Ginecología, Pediatría, Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Toxicología, Medicina Forense y Legal y Parasitología, Área de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Escuela Politécnica Superior de Ingeniería, Sección de Náutica, Máquinas y Radioelectrónica Naval, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL). Vía Auxiliar Paso Alto, nº 2, 38001 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. 4Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), Avda. Astrofísico Fco. Sánchez, s/nº. 38206 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain. INTRODUCTION Relative recent evidence has shown that the southward flowing Canary Current is leaving on the Canary Islands important amounts of marine debris, especially plastic, from the open North Atlantic Ocean, mainly on North and Northeast exposed beaches1–3. However, up to the development of this study by the end of 2018, no works had focused on the study of the presence of microplastics in beaches of the occidental islands (Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro), which is highly necessary in order to fully evaluate their content, distribution and also the possible detection of “hot spots” or “black points” with an extremely high content of microplastics.
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