Human rubbish has become a mode of transport for animals invading new territories. In a survey of the beaches of 30 remote islands from Spitsbergen in the Arctic to Antarctica, David Barnes of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge found that a rising tide of plastic has replaced wood as the main shoreline debris. Riding on the rubbish are stowaways such as worms and barnacles.
“The highest proportion of manmade rubbish is in the Southern Ocean,” says Barnes. Here, warmer waters foster the tropical invaders. Antarctica, he points out, has seen few invaders for millions of years. But not for much longer, perhaps.…
