As Japan debris washes up in the US, scientists fear break in natural order

[xchrom]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/09/japan-tsunami-debris-marine-life


Volunteers remove marine organisms from the dock that landed in Oregon after drifting from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

When a floating dock the size of a boxcar washed up on a sandy beach in Oregon, beachcombers got excited because it was the largest piece of debris from last year's tsunami in Japan to show up on the US west coast.

But scientists worried it represented a whole new way for invasive species of seaweed, crabs and other marine organisms to break the earth's natural barriers and further muck up the area's marine environments.

And more invasive species could be hitching rides on tsunami debris expected to arrive in the weeks and months to come.

"We know extinctions occur with invasions," said John Chapman, assistant professor of fisheries and invasive species specialist at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center. "This is like arrows shot into the dark. Some of them could hit a mark."

[Dena4r]

1. Spam deleted by Morning Dew (MIR Team)

[BlueToTheBone]

2. Welcome Dena4r, I think.

Does this bouncing thing mean you found the smilies and can't control yourself? Or are you happy that invasive species will move in and destroy the native ecosystem?

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Because nuclear plants were never a break in the natural order.

[Overseas]

4. K&R. I hadn't thought about these non-nuclear ramifications of the tsunami.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. If they do not get Fukishima under control very soon, no need to worry about species invasion.

Species mutation, yes.
Species die out, yes.

The biggest disaster in the history of mankind, and no news coverage of what is going on with Fukishima.
You would think that every nation which could afford it would be sending hordes of scientists and manpower to Japan.
Tepco and the Japanese government are still acting as if this is a problem they alone can handle.

[Overseas]

6. I find that very disturbing too. Should be an active lesson for the world

involving a serious review of nuclear power everywhere. Which countries have plants with the Tepco design and what should be done about them? Which countries have the best safety records and what can we learn from them?

The news is covered in some outlets around the world, but deemed geekish and boring old news in the USA.

[Yo_Mama]

7. But this IS the natural order

The process is entirely natural. Granted, in the past there weren't docks and so forth, but the massive tree losses near the shore and all the near-shore debris always gets pulled out in these tsunamis.

Tsunamis and so forth are disruptive of natural processes, but the disruption is quite natural and has been a part of the ecosystem forever.

[antigone382]

8. Yes but a tree is much more likely to decompose before reaching California shores...

At the very least to a size that would not support organisms larger than microbe-sized. large man-made structures designed to withstand decomposition are a pretty new thing.