Coastal Species Thrive on Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Coastal species are thriving on floating islands of human trash, including the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and may become a permanent part of the open ocean ecosystem. Researchers found that 70.5% of debris collected from trash islands was home to living coastal species, including 484 different marine invertebrate organisms. The researchers suggest that these trash islands represent a new type of ecosystem, called "neopelagic communities", made possible by the plastisphere, and could have implications for shifts in species dispersal and biogeography at broad spatial scales.