The acidic nature of acid rain falls into rivers and lakes and make them acidic enough to hurt aquatic organisms living in them. The normal acid level for lakes and streams is around 6.5. Fishes and animals that live in the water have some sort of tolerance to the acid in water, but the lower the PH level gets, so does their body weight. At lower than 5 PH, adult fish can start dying and most fish eggs cannot hatch. It can create a disturbance to ecosystems, because different fish have difference tolerance
This combination makes waters toxic to crayfish, clams, fish, and other aquatic animals. It also affects the food sources of herbivores and insects. How does acid rain affect the environment? Acid rain has a hand in global warming as well which is rapidly changing climates around the world. With the climate changes many plants and animals are having to relocate or are dying because they are not fit for the changes in their surroundings.
Causes of water pollution include: * Increased sediment from soil erosion * Improper waste disposal and littering * Leaching of soil pollution into water supplies The effects of water pollution include decreasing the quantity of drinkable water available, lowering water supplies for crop irrigation and impacting fish and wildlife that require water of certain purity for survival. 3. Soil Pollution Soil, land pollution is contamination of the soil that prevents natural growth and balance in the land
Another problem that the rainforests encounter is the medical side. Certain plants are removed for medicines, herbal shampoo and perfumes. Gold mining in the rainforest can also be a threatening problem. It can pollute rivers that other animals are dependent on. Furthermore, mercury spreads and destroys plants and animals in the area.
When acid rain falls, it sometimes raises the levels of acids in certain soils, removing nutrients from the soil that helps plants grow. Because the nutrients are removed from the soil, it makes it hard for plants and trees to resist diseases, insect infestation and bad weather. Acid rain also raises the acidity of steams, rivers, and lakes, which can harm and sometimes kill life in the water. The acids in acid rain also react with the CaCO3 in marble and limestone, which can cause damage to statues and buildings. Lakes with limestone beds are less affected by acid rain because the limestone reacts with the acids in acid rain.
Technical Reporting Process Description The Process of Acid Rain Acid Rain is precipitation with high levels of nitric and sulfuric acids. Natural causes can cause acid rain but most acid rain is caused by humans. Acid rain has many environmental effects but the most concerning is its impact on wetlands, streams, lakes and other aquatic environments. It is important to understand the process of acid rain because of its effects to wildlife, plants, and health to humans. The process of acid rain includes: natural or man-made sources, gases and particles in the atmosphere, dry deposition and wet deposition.
Elevated pH can in turn ‘blind' organisms that rely on perception of dissolved chemical cues for their survival by impairing their chemosensory abilities (Figure 3) (Turner & Chislock 2010). When these dense algal blooms eventually die, microbial decomposition severely depletes dissolved oxygen, creating a hypoxic or anoxic ‘dead zone' lacking sufficient oxygen to support most organisms. Dead zones are found in many freshwater lakes including the Laurentian Great Lakes (e.g., central basin of Lake Erie; Arend et al. 2011) during the summer. Furthermore, such hypoxic events are particularly common in marine coastal environments surrounding large, nutrient-rich rivers (e.g., Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico; Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay) and have been shown to affect more than 245,000 square kilometers in over 400 near-shore systems (Diaz & Rosenberg 2008).
• Aquatic ecosystems: Acid rain makes water bodies, such as streams, rivers and lakes, acidic. At a pH below 5, fish eggs are unable to hatch and a lower pH can kill adult fish as well. This was seen in Canada, as the sport fish population in acidified lakes showed reproductive failure, skeletal deformities and increased mortality rate due to acid rain. In southern Norway during the 1970’s fish were killed in over 20% of the lakes as a result of acid
High concentrations of sulfur dioxide can result in breathing problems with asthmatic children and adults who are active outdoors. With longer term exposure could include respiratory illness, alterations in the lungs defenses, and aggravation of existing cardiovascular disease. Sulfur dioxide is a precursor of acid rain, which has acidified soils, lakes and streams, accelerated corrosion of buildings and monuments, and reduced visibility which effect the environment. Nitrogen oxide is a group of gases made up of different oxygen and nitrogen. Major sources of nitrogen oxide include fuel combustion in power plants and automobiles and processes used in chemical plants.
Acid rain as a result of industrialization has had many negative effects on the New England region in particular. The Adirondack Mountains are of special interest due to their soil composition that does not allow for the seizure of the two primary particles in acid rain. This has caused issues pertaining to the water reservoirs in the area that now are sometimes unable to support life do to the high acidity. Acid deposition as it is more formally called is typically composed of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. These two components are naturally occurring from sources like volcanoes but the industrial revolution has exponentially increased the amount of these chemicals in the air.