In the South-West of the USA is one of the hottest and biggest deserts in North America - the Sonoran desert. Despite the extreme conditions, Sonora is home to hundreds of species of animals and thousands of species of plants, among which, for example, local endemic - Carnegie giant.

According to the laws of the state of Arizona, the person zrobilem this cactus, faces a jail term of up to 25 years. The reason for this apparent rigor: active deforestation put Carnegie to the brink of extinction.

Human rights defenders meanwhile note that, while "direct" destruction of certain types punished severely, another crime (pollution) remains unpunished, even though it is, according to scientists, where a great danger.

To such conclusion ecologists came, watching rare species of reptiles in the Saguaro national Park. The experts from the School of natural resources and environment at the University of Arizona (SNRE University of Arizona) happened to notice the curious features of propagation of waste through the territory of the desert.

According to scientists, the movement's main local pollutants - plastic bags and balloons is subject to seasonal changes in the flow of wind, and their number is so large that exceeds the number of local inhabitants, in particular rattlesnakes and turtles from the kind of Gafarov.

"We spent a lot of time in the wilderness, studying reptiles, and gradually began to pay attention to the huge amount of debris, especially balloons. Often we met the whole island, reminiscent of herpes in the landscape of the surrounding landscape, " says one of the experts biologist Erin Telstra (Erin Zylstra). - Rattlesnake quite common in these parts, and the fact that it is less than garbage, shocking".

A strange education consist of latex and eventually decompose. However, according to the scientist, is unclear yet how long process of disintegration will occupy in desert conditions. As for the plastic packages, they are decomposed under the action of sunlight. In the case of separation packages for individual pieces of different size, they penetrate into soil and ground, after which the process of disintegration practically stops.

In desert conditions this process is particularly dangerous, as the sources of water are rare, and are common to the vast number of different animals.

"In fact, now nobody knows where it will end the way these small fragments of plastic, " says Erin Silstra. - Therefore, important not only control the spread of dust, but also a clear understanding of its toxicity".

All his conclusions ecologists put in the article, which is currently being prepared for publication and will be published in February 2013 in Journal of Arid Environments.