Central idea: The article reports on a recent study which found evidence that coastal life forms have colonized plastic items in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a vast area in the North Pacific Ocean where plastic waste has accumulated due to ocean currents.
What is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP)?
| Features | |
| Location | North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG), north of the equator in the Pacific Ocean |
| Currents | Kuroshio, North Pacific, California, and North Equatorial currents, moving in a clockwise direction |
| Sources | Any trash that enters one of these currents from any of the 51 Pacific Rim countries |
| Size | Estimated to be 1.6 million sq. km |
| Age | More than 50 years old |
| Plastic Content | Estimated to contain 45,000-129,000 metric tonnes of plastic, predominantly in the form of microplastics |
| Visible Objects | Heavier, more visible objects that haven’t yet broken down into smaller particles accounted for 92% in 2018 |
Findings of the new study
- Researchers from Canada, the Netherlands, and the U.S. have reported that coastal life forms have colonized plastic items in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
- From November 2018 to January 2019, they collected 105 pieces of plastic debris, the most heavily plastic-polluted ocean gyre on the globe.
- Based on studying them, they reported that 98% of the debris items had invertebrate organisms.
Plastic inflicting into a coastal organism
- Organisms found on coasts were getting by on small floating islands of garbage out in the Pacific Ocean, which the researchers named the neopelagic community.
- They found organisms belonging to 46 taxa, and 37 of them were coastal; the rest were pelagic. Among both coastal and pelagic organisms, crustaceans were the most common.
- Nearly all taxa were of Northwest Pacific origin, including Japan.
- Eight of the remainder were from East Asia and five specifically from Japan. Four items were from North America.
- They found that 68% of the coastal taxa and 33% of the pelagic taxa reproduced asexually and that there was evidence of sexual reproduction among the hydroids and the crustaceans, among others.
Implications of the findings
- Marine plastic pollution has given rise to a new kind of standing coastal community in the open ocean.
- The neopelagic community is not misplaced but lives on plastic items in the garbage patch, including reproducing there.
- The finding recalls other studies that show the chemical bonding of plastic with rocks, sedimentary rocks embedded with plastic earrings in Brazil, and the formation of plastiglomerates in Hawaii.
What is neopelagic community?
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GPGP and its impact on marine life
- The GPGP has significant impacts on marine life due to the ingestion of plastic by marine animals, which can cause harm and even death.
- Plastic can also entangle and suffocate marine animals, leading to the disruption of ecosystems.
- The new study sheds light on the neopelagic community, which has adapted to living on plastic in the garbage patch.
Plastic pollution and its environmental impact
- Plastic pollution is a major environmental issue that affects land and water ecosystems worldwide.
- Plastic waste can take hundreds of years to decompose, and even then, it breaks down into microplastics that can persist in the environment indefinitely.
- The presence of plastic in the environment has negative impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem function, and human health.
Conclusion
- There are various solutions to plastic pollution, including reducing the use of single-use plastics, recycling, and promoting alternative materials.
- Governments and industries can also take steps to reduce plastic waste, such as implementing policies and regulations that reduce plastic use and increase recycling.
- Individual actions, such as reducing personal plastic consumption and properly disposing of plastic waste, can also make a difference.
