Plastic has a lot to answer for.

With environmental pressure groups stepping up the pressure on key global decision makers regarding the plastic issue in our oceans, the concern over the long term impact of plastic on all ecosystems is now high.

Everyone has seen the photos of turtles and birds with plastic wrapped around their necks and this is a direct impact of plastic being in the habitats of all marine organisms.  However, there is an even bigger threat linked to climate change.

On the western coast of the USA, new marine species are being discovered along this coastline.  The 2011 Japanese tsunami, which washed debris out into the Pacific, is to blame for these new species.  Whilst wood has almost certainly decomposed, large amounts of plastic debris was washed into the Pacific Ocean and this is responsible for carrying over the invasive species being found along the coastline.

The impact of such species on the existing habitats could be detrimental to the equilibrium and this incident is likely to keep occurring as non-decomposing plastics can carry species to new areas.  With climate change, the increase in tropical storms is likely to create similar problems as the 2011 tsunami has, by increasing the movement of plastics in the ocean and sending many species into new areas of the world.  Check out the full story here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/scie...