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Beach litter is one of the most pervasive pollution issues in coastal environments worldwide. In this study, we aim to assess the amount and distribution of beach litter on Porto Paglia beach, its entrapment across psammophilous habitats, and whether the invasive Carpobrotus acinaciformis (L.) L.Bolus plays a different role in trapping litter than native vegetation. To this end, two seasonal samplings (in spring and autumn) were conducted using a paired sampling method that considers plots in all coastal habitats with and without C. acinaciformis. Our results confirm that the main beach litter category is plastic, and that its distribution varies across habitats: the white dune seems to play a greater role in trapping and filtering beach litter, reducing its amount in the backdune. A correlation was found between the Naturalness index (N) and the beach litter amount, supporting the finding that invaded habitats trap beach litter better than native ones., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Mediterranean coastal dunes are threatened by several factors; particularly, tourism causes modifications to the vegetation and the disappearance of endemic species. Understanding the dunes' conservation status is crucial for preserving these vulnerable environments through appropriate management strategies. This study was conducted on 17 Sardinian coastal dunes, with different levels of touristic pressure. We focused on endemic plant species and developed a new endemicity index (EI). Our study aimed: 1) to assess the conservation status by applying the diversity indices; 2) to verify if the study sites would reveal a general pattern based on different degrees of human disturbance and 3) to test the effectiveness of the EI index. Four m 2 plots (2 × 2 m) were placed along orthogonal transects to the coastline (446 plots in total), in which all plant species were identified, and their relative abundance was estimated. We found significant differences among the sites for H dune and EI values but no statistically significant differences in the N values. The EI showed the high naturalistic value of Sardinian coastal dunes and allowed us to distinguish the sites with higher anthropic pressure. We found significant differences in the indices among the degrees of human disturbance in the coastal systems. The H dune values were positively related to a medium level of human disturbance, and the EI allowed us to distinguish the sites with varying levels of human disturbance, although it differentiated better those with the highest anthropic pressure. A medium level of human disturbance was positively related to the plant richness and cover, and human trampling could be tolerated by psammophilous vascular plants. Results showed a satisfactory conservation status of Sardinian dune systems and highlighted diversity indices as valuable support for implementing a conservation strategy, compatible with the tourism purposes and the integrated management of the Mediterranean coastal dune systems., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)