A huge accumulation of garbage is floating around in the Pacific Ocean – and has become a home for species such as anemones and crabs. A new, floating ecosystem has emerged, researchers judge. “Garbage” measures over 1.6 million square kilometers – roughly three times the area of Sweden – and drifts around in the ocean between California and Hawaii. It’s not a compact island, but the world’s largest collection of garbage loosely held together by a huge eddy current that pulls trash toward the center. And just there, far out at sea, a number of species whose habitat is normally close to coasts have managed to survive and reproduce, shows a study that has been published in Nature Ecology and Evolution. The researchers retrieved 105 objects between November 2018 and January 2019, from the eastern parts of the great garbage patch, known in English as “The great pacific garbage patch”. Invertebrates On the collected objects, 484 invertebrates of 46 different species were found, the vast majority of which normally live near the coast. It appears that the plastic debris has enabled new floating ecosystems with species that normally cannot survive in the open ocean but can actually survive there, according to the researchers. – It was surprising to see how common the coastal species were. They were on 70 percent of the debris that we found, Linsey Haram of the Smithsonian’s Environmental Research Center (SERC) told CNN. Much of the recovered debris was severely degraded and brittle after years of wear and tear at sea. The plastic debris can survive for a long time in the ocean, while organic materials break down and sink in a few months or possibly years. Eating each other Both coastal species and species that usually live far out to sea were found on some of the objects. There is probably competition for both space and food, says Linsey Haram. – It is difficult to know exactly what is going on, but we have seen evidence that some coastal anemones eat species from further out to sea, so we know that some predation is going on between the two communities, she says. Scientists have previously warned that invasive coastal species could lead to significant changes in the marine environment. What it will mean in the long run that new species have established themselves far out at sea is not clear, and it is difficult to determine exactly how they have gotten so far out to sea and how they have managed to survive.
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