Dezene Huber 🌻There are five so-called "#garbage #patches" in the earth's oceans – areas where #currents concentrate surface and near-surface #trash (particularly #plastics).
Obligate #neustonic #organisms – #animals and #plants that must live at or very near the ocean surface – also concentrate in those locations.
So what does that mean for the #ecology of this unique #biotic #community?
See Chong et al (2023) if you would like to know more.
OA 🔗: https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3001646
High concentrations of floating neustonic life in the plastic-rich North Pacific Garbage Patch
Floating life (neuston) is a core component of the ocean surface food web, but the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic is the only known region of high neustonic abundance. This study reveals high densities of floating life in the plastic-rich Great Pacific Garbage Patch, suggesting that this area could be an important marine habitat.