Macroplastic Pollution on a Sea Turtle Nesting Beach in Guatemala

12,297 macroplastic items were recorded via ground-truthing on an Olive Ridley nesting beach on Guatemala's Pacific coast. The data was collected using UAV surveys and systematic ground-based monitoring following the OSPAR beach litter protocol. This dataset, authored by Stefanie Reinhardt and harvested by DataverseNO, provides the first systematic assessment of macroplastic pollution in this region.

Use Cases

• Compare plastic detection accuracy between UAV imagery and ground surveys based on the described methodology.
• Model plastic abundance based on beach level and vegetation presence using the described negative binomial mixed-effects models.
• Identify pollution hotspots for coastal management based on the mapped accumulation near the high-tide line and vegetated zones.
• Assess land-based versus ocean-based plastic sources based on the origin analysis mentioned in the description.

Strengths

• Provides a high-resolution count of 12,297 macroplastic items from ground-truthing.
• Integrates two survey methods (UAV and ground-based) for a multi-scale assessment.
• Applies a standardized protocol (OSPAR beach litter) for data collection.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Freshness should be verified as the last update date is in the future (2026-04-21).

Provenance

Source

Reinhardt, Stefanie; DataverseNO Harvested Dataverse

Collection Method

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveys and systematic ground-based monitoring using the OSPAR beach litter protocol.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-21 02:26:34

Geography

A sea turtle nesting beach on the Pacific coast of Guatemala.