Invasive Species Ride Tsunami Debris To US Shore

An anonymous reader writes "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 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 West Coast's marine environments. And more invasive species could be hitching rides on tsunami debris expected to arrive in the weeks and months to come."

Comments

Re:Attention, "Fittest":

[ArhcAngel]

This is the first thing I thought of. Isn't this how nature prunes and purges and refreshes itself?

Re:Maybe patent officers think it's new

[rufty_tufty]

I think the point is that the invasive species are hitchiking a ride on "a floating dock the size of a boxcar". This is new man-made intervention.