. 2016 Nov 23;6:37551. doi: 10.1038/srep37551

Table 1. Comparison of floating microplastic concentrations obtained in all previous studies performed in the Mediterranean Sea.

Study area	Sampling period	Net mesh	#	Mean abundance ± SD (Max)	Reference
Cretan Sea	July 1997	500 μm	25	119 ± 250 (1160) g/km²	63
NW Mediterranean	July–Aug 2010	333 μm	40	0.116 (0.892) items/m²	64
NW Mediterranean	July–Aug 2010	333 μm	40	2020 (2280) g/km²	64
Ligurian/Sardinian Sea	Jun–Jul 2011	200 μm	23	0.31 ± 1.0 (4.83) items/m²	65
Bay of Calvi (Corsica)	Aug 2011–Aug 2012	200 μm	38	0.062 (0.688) items/m²	66
W Mediterranean	Sept 2011–Aug 2012	333 μm	41	0.135 (0.42) items/m²	55
W Mediterranean	Sept 2011–Aug 2012	333 μm	41	187 (216) g/km²	55
W Sardinia	July 2012–July 2013	500 μm	30	0.15 (0.35) items/m³	67
Ligurian Sea	July–Aug 2013	333 μm	35	0.103 (0.36) items/m²	68
NW Sardinia	July 2012–July 2013	200 μm	27	0.17 ± 0.32 (1.69) items/m³	69
Ligurian Sea	Summer 2011/2012/2013	200 μm	70	0.31 ± 1.17 (9.67) items/m³	70
Mediterranean	May 2013	200 μm	39	0.243 items/m²	19
Mediterranean	May 2013	200 μm	39	423 (1934) g/km²	19
Central W Mediterranean	May 2011–June 2013	333 μm	71	0.147 (1.16) items/m²	53
Central W Mediterranean	May 2011–June 2013	333 μm	71	579.3 (9298) g/km²	53
W Med/Adriatic	May–June 2013	200 μm	74	0.40 ± 0.74 (4.52) items/m²	This study
				1.00 ± 1.84 (11.30) items/m³
				671.91 ± 1544.16 (10432.36) g/km²

For this study only concentrations of chemically characterized particles (>700 μm), un-corrected for the wind effect are shown. Some unit of measurements were converted to improve inter-comparability of the results.