{"id":90695,"date":"2023-04-19T10:55:59","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T08:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/?p=90695"},"modified":"2023-04-19T10:56:02","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T08:56:02","slug":"coastal-species-found-living-on-high-seas-because-of-plastic-debris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/en\/environment\/coastal-species-found-living-on-high-seas-because-of-plastic-debris\/","title":{"rendered":"Coastal species found living on high seas because of plastic debris"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The high seas have been colonized by a surprising number of coastal marine invertebrate species, which can now survive and reproduce in the open ocean, contributing strongly to the floating community composition. This finding was published on April 17 in Nature Ecology and Evolution<\/a><\/em> by a team of researchers led by the University of Hawai\u02bbi at M\u0101noa and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers found coastal species, representing diverse taxonomic groups and life history traits, in the eastern North Pacific Subtropical Gyre on more than 70% of the plastic debris they examined. Further, the debris carried more coastal species than open ocean species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis discovery suggests that past biogeographical boundaries among marine ecosystems\u2014established for millions of years\u2014are rapidly changing due to floating plastic pollution accumulating in the subtropical gyres,\u201d said lead author Linsey Haram, research associate at SERC.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Coastal podded hydroid Aglaophenia pluma<\/em> and open-ocean gooseneck barnacles Lepas<\/em> living on floating plastic collected in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. (Photo courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup, in coordination with Smithsonian Institution)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

These researchers recently discovered the existence of these \u201cneopelagic communities<\/a>,\u201d or floating communities in deep ocean waters. To understand the ecological and physical processes that govern communities on floating marine debris, SERC and UH M\u0101noa formed a multi-disciplinary Floating Ocean Ecosystem (FloatEco) team. UH M\u0101noa led the assessment of physical oceanography, and SERC evaluated biological and ecological dimensions of the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human impact spreads coastal species<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

While scientists already knew organisms, including some coastal species, colonized marine plastic debris, scientists were unaware until now that established coastal communities could persist in the open ocean. These findings identify a new human-caused impact on the ocean, documenting the scale and potential consequences that were not previously understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Hawaiian Islands are neighbored in the northeast by the North Pacific garbage patch,\u201d said Nikolai Maximenko<\/strong>, co-author and senior researcher at the UH M\u0101noa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology<\/a>. \u201cDebris that breaks off from this patch constitutes the majority of debris arriving on Hawaiian beaches and reefs. In the past, the fragile marine ecosystems of the islands were protected by the very long distances from coastal communities of Asia and North America. The presence of coastal species persisting in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre near Hawai\u02bbi is a game changer that indicates that the islands are at an increased risk of colonization by invasive species.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur study underscores the large knowledge gap and still limited understanding of rapidly changing open ocean ecosystems,\u201d said co-author Gregory Ruiz, senior scientist at SERC. \u201cThis highlights the need for dramatic enhancement of the high-seas observing systems, including biological, physical and marine debris measurements.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samples turn up surprising finds<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For this study, the FloatEco team analyzed 105 plastic samples collected by The Ocean Cleanup during their 2018 and 2019 expeditions in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, which occupies most of the northern Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were extremely surprised to find 37 different invertebrate species that normally live in coastal waters, over triple the number of species we found that live in open waters, not only surviving on the plastic but also reproducing,\u201d said Haram. \u201cWe were also impressed by how easily coastal species colonized new floating items, including our own instruments\u2014an observation we\u2019re looking into further.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur results suggest coastal organisms now are able to reproduce, grow and persist in the open ocean\u2014creating a novel community that did not previously exist, being sustained by the vast and expanding sea of plastic debris,\u201d said Ruiz. \u201cThis is a paradigm shift in what we consider to be barriers to the distribution and dispersal of coastal invertebrates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n