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The most amazing thing about these garbage patches are the large amounts of bacteria that are feeding off the plastics. http://www.fastcoexist.com/1682478/welc
by washedup 13y ago
The most amazing thing about these garbage patches are the large amounts of bacteria that are feeding off the plastics.
http://www.fastcoexist.com/1682478/welcome-to-the-plastisphere-the-new-world-of-microbes-living-on-ocean-plastic http://www.fastcoexist.com/1682478/welcome-to-the-plastisphe...
Life, uh, finds a way.
- Filligree 13y agoThat article doesn't say they're feeding off it, just colonizing it. I wonder how long it'll be before you're correct, though.
- washedup 13y agoAh good point. For now the plastic must provide something analogous to breeding grounds or points of community. Little plastic planetoids floating through the watery abyss. Either way, there does exist plastic-eating (or breaking down) bacteria: http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110328/full/news.2011.191.html http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110328/full/news.2011.191.ht...
- raverbashing 13y agoI guess the UV exposure makes it easier (for bacteria, since UV helps breaking the plastic down)