#great pacific garbage

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the result of plastic waste becoming stuck in oceanic gyres.

With time, the plastics form artificial 'isles' where certain organisms can live on & thrive.

Many tons of such pieces are now floating on ocean currents, circling around the oceans for many years.

Biologists have long separated coastal species from deep ocean dwellers.

When a storm tossed log or mat of sea weed was ripped away from land, the organisms living on it were assumed to die out...

Oceanic conditions being so much harsher than most shorelines.

It took the Great East Japan Tsunami, of 2011, to reveal the truth.

That tsunami ripped out dock planks, whole boats & plastic pieces - leaving them to drift out on the ocean.

For years afterwards, that debris made landfall on North American & Hawaiian beaches.

Marine biologists found that Japanese coastal species had survived a voyage of, at least, 6 years!

We're these sea animals now forming permanent communities far out in the Pacific?

Among the plastics were: bottles, buckets, buoys, crates, nets & ropes.

Some were a wildcard group of items with living creatures on them.

In the lab were found: amphipods, barnacles, bryozoans, crabs, hydroids & sea anemones.

Of the 46 kinds of invertebrates - 37 were coastal species.

Only 9 were oceanic animals...

In all, 98% of the plastics were carrying some form of life!

Many items held both kinds of beings sharing the floating 'islands.'

At the most, these plastics had up to 5 different kinds of life forms on them.

Nets & ropes held the thickest groups - hanging on strands or hiding in small holes.

We're these temporary 'passengers'?

Or, were these organisms living out their whole lives there?!

Evidence of reproduction were soon found - in the brooding females of amphipods, crabs & hydroids.

Then, growth patterns were seen in the amphipods & anemones.

A range of tiny juveniles, middle sized individuals & full grown adults - all living together on the same plastic surface.

Some adults remained in one spot, others moved around.

Some filtered particles from the sea, others grazed on the plastic surface - a few hunted down prey!!

Many species reproduced asexually - cloning themselves!

Their larva didn't have to spend a lot of time drifting in the open ocean, as young organisms grew on the same surface as their adults.

Compared to the 2011 tsunami, some coastal species - like mollusks - were less common on floating plastics.

But, they were found all over the Japan tsunami debris...

So, all these life forms can now survive far from land, due to plastic items making for durable homes.

Plastic pollution isn't just an eyesore or mere trash anymore.

It's expanding the range of where sea life can survive at & reshaping marine ecosystems around the world...