It's funny you should bring that line up -- "The Andromeda Strain" (also by Crichton) features a microbe that's able to decompose plastics and rubbers.
I suppose it's a well traveled trope.
To quote Aristotle: "Nature abhors a vacuum"
"Life ᵘʰ finds a way"
Ahh, my movie quote mastery skills pale compared to you. (also HN markup skills it seems)