Microscopic creatures and plants could be helping reduce marine garbage on the ocean surface, not only by 'eating' plastics but by causing tiny pieces to sink to the seafloor, Australian researchers said.

 

The plastic-dwellers appear to be breaking down the millions of tonnes of debris floating on waters worldwide, according to oceanographers at the University of Western Australia.

 

They analyzed more than 1,000 images of material drifting along Australia's coast in a published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE.

 

Biological communities living on the tiny particles of debris known as microplastics have been discovered elsewhere, but this is the first time they have been documented in Australian waters. Many new types of microbes and invertebrates have been recorded for the first time.

 

The United Nations Environment Program estimated in 2012 that around 13,000 pieces of microplastic litter were found in every square kilometre of sea, with the North Pacific most badly affected.

 

The actions of the microbes could explain why the amount of plastic floating on the seas has not been expanding as fast as scientists expected.

 

But the researchers also found evidence of more complex creatures on the microplastics, raising concerns that other small organisms could be consuming the microbes — and the toxins — found in the litter. It seems there are tiny animals grazing on these plastic inhabitants, but the researchers are not sure if this is good or bad. That is a hazard that they are very worried about, but it’s one that needs far more research to see how big this problem is.