Aquatic Invertebrates: Adaptations and Feeding Guilds INTRODUCTION Global warming and human's authoritative influence on the environment such as deforestation, pollution etc. are taking a bad toll on the diversity of the ecosystem. Global warming which has brought about increase in the temperatures is disturbing the natural cycle of the ecosystem. This has brought upon an increased droughts throughout the world. The droughts and increased heat has had negative impacts on local aquatic invertebrates.
Areas around the world known as “Dead Zones” are being reported as “areas so low in oxygen that fish and other sea life cannot survive (Oceans Where Fish Choke. November 30, 2010).” These areas are accosted with highly populated coastal areas that are being overfished and have rich nutrient run off coming from land causing massive decline in phytoplankton. Biological Oceanographers worldwide study dead fish that continue to surface on shore by searching for a solution to the problem. Many believe the zones are created due to climate change; however, it is more logical that the constant drain off of the high nutrients is feeding the dilemma. Low oxygen levels increase stress on fish.
Keeping the Ocean Free of Debris Pollution in the Persian gulf is negatively impacting marine life How much are we trashing our ocean? CNN, February 12th 2015. Arabian Gulf coral reefs dying a slow death. Gulf news, June 10th, 2014. Spill, Dolphin Deaths Spark Alarm At Persian Gulf Pollution.
Beyond the overhunting, there are many other threats to the sea otter population. Other threats are environmental risks, such as oil spills. The Exxon Valdez oil spill in California was feared that it would kill one third of the sea otters. Sea otters have a higher mortality rate in California than other areas of their habitat. Scientists were studying this correlation and discovered some of the reasons for this higher mortality rate.
These emissions can become acid rain and if it can damage a tree, it can and does damage coral. According to the Coral Reef Alliance; the world’s oceans have had “approximately 525 billion tons of carbon dioxide” dumped by human activity within their waters. [ (Coral Reef Alliance, 2012) ]. The site also goes on to state that the destruction of Mangroves,(which have been harvested for lumber) and the loss filtering saltwater swamps due to farming have caused quite a bit of stress on coral reefs. Then there are the odd ways we humans go about “enjoying the ocean”.
Oceans play a vital role when it comes to climate regulation, but there has been an escalating change in the sea temperature over the last few decades which contributed to sea levels rising. Oceans act as carbon dioxide main stores and a proportion of the carbon uptakes are exported along the ocean carbon pumps. An increase in the sea’s temperature and ocean currents may lead to a decrease in the uptake of Carbon dioxide by oceans. The ocean chemistry has already been affected as we are facing ocean acidification- which impacts species such as corals and calcareous plankton, aquatic and land ecosystems and the biogeochemical cycles. 1.10) What is the effect of climate change on biodiversity in the oceans and on land?
Fertilisers, sewage and pollutants can have direct impact on the coral reefs. They grow algae a lot which ends up covering the ocean and sunlight cannot reach the coral reef for growth. Since the coral reefs are near rainforests, when trees are logged, the ground will break apart into the sea from hard rain which damages the coral reef. Oil Spills Many routes for transporting oil is in the coral
Climate change seems to be one of the major forces of their possible extinction. There have been too many large oil spills over the years that have also placed their existing population
Contaminating these waters will not only harm the wildlife, but it will kill a source of food that is so dominant in Newfoundland, and also will harm hundreds of people’s jobs. Oil spills cause a lot of problems in our ocean and to our marine life. Everywhere you look people are trying to create a more sustainable ocean, and this is hard to do when there is so much pollution and threats to our environment all around us. We, as youth need to step up and try to make a change and help to make our province a better place. We can help thousands of animals survive by taking action against oil drilling in our
These runoffs have contributed to the beach closures, and the unsustainable condition of biological life in the lake. Human health is at great risk due to the untreated waste that is dumped in Lake Huron each year. The untreated sewage contains many viruses, two being Giardia (an intestinal parasite), cryptosporidium, which causes intestinal illnesses and even death. E. coli a more familiar virus has elevated its concentrations in Lake Huron, found in either animal or human feces, which causes diarrhea, nausea, and stomach cramps. ("Testing the waters,"