11 comments

[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 27.5 ms ] thread
This is really interesting because many of these new species will be considered invasive species, however, because they arrived by natural means should the invasion be stopped?
Since they came over almost entirely an manmade debris that had been 'freed' by the tsunami, I think it can be argued that this was not entirely natural. If Japan was unpopulated, we'd get a few logs that would made the journey, not complete manmade structures which could house many different species at once.
I really have difficultly seeing how this could be considered anything other than natural. We, our actions and our impacts on the rest of the environment are, after all, born of the very same nature.
Well, by that loose definition, there is absolutely nothing that is not 'natural.'
Yeah, I agree with that!
"Natural" is defined as: existing in or caused by nature; not made or caused by humankind.

So by definition, there are things that are natural, such as other galaxies, and all things a million years ago.

Things that are natural : all galaxies, including ours.
Waves are oscillations, and thus do not move matter over long distances. Am I missing something?
You're right, but the tsunami released a lot of debris to the sea near Japan, and the sea creatures where slowly transported for thousands of miles, on that debris:

"Between June 2012 and February this year 289 Japanese species attached to 600 pieces of debris washed up on beaches in the states of Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska and Hawaii, as well as in the Canadian province of British Columbia, according to the study."

Maybe I should RTFA instead of the (misleading) headline :-)
It's not the waves that move matter, it's the ocean currents and winds (for objects buoyant enough to act like sails).