ArticleNature ecology & evolution2023
Extent and reproduction of coastal species on plastic debris in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.
Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Evaluating the environmental impact of cleaning the North Pacific Garbage Patch.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Plastic pollution has the potential to alter ecological and evolutionary processes in aquatic ecosystems.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Review
- Long-Term Changes in the Abundance, Size, and Morphotype of Marine Plastics in the North Pacific.Environmental science & technology · 2025Article
- A predictive framework for identifying source populations of non-native marine macroalgae:PeerJ · 2025Article
- Community composition and seasonal dynamics of microplastic biota in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Article
- Multiple ocean threats.Nature ecology & evolution · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
17 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We show that the high seas are colonized by a diverse array of coastal species, which survive and reproduce in the open ocean, contributing strongly to its floating community composition. Analysis of rafting plastic debris in the eastern North Pacific Subtropical Gyre revealed 37 coastal invertebrate taxa, largely of Western Pacific origin, exceeding pelagic taxa richness by threefold. Coastal taxa, including diverse taxonomic groups and life history traits, occurred on 70.5% of debris items. Most coastal taxa possessed either direct development or asexual reproduction, possibly facilitating long-term persistence on rafts. Our results suggest that the historical lack of available substrate limited the colonization of the open ocean by coastal species, rather than physiological or ecological constraints as previously assumed. It appears that coastal species persist now in the open ocean as a substantial component of a neopelagic community sustained by the vast and expanding sea of plastic debris.
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Registered trials
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