Acid Rain Affects Ocean Life And Ecosystems

Acid rain can weaken a tree or plant’s natural defenses. It harms the soil and all organisms that need it to survive because it takes away important soil nutrients such as calcium and magnesium. When a tree’s defenses are down, it makes them more susceptible to diseases and pests. Acid rain can also deposit nitrates. Nitrogen runoff can cause eutrophication. Eutrophication is when runoff nitrogen goes into an ocean ecosystem and causes algae to grow quicker. This is called an algal bloom and it blocks sunlight from getting to the plants causing a “dead zone.” This means no organisms will be able to live there anymore. Finally, acid rain can cause the wearing away or deterioration of buildings and many other things built of stone. It does not affect humans directly. It does however harm them because of the two main chemicals involved, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. When inhaled, they have been shown to cause some illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis. Some organisms are more damaged by acid rain than others, but most organisms are harmed when there are high concentrations of acid rain in the area/ecosystem they live in. Acid rain can harm an environment and humans negatively and has several effects on the Earth. Many places around the world have been affected by acid rain. 3 main places are eastern Europe and eastern United States along with some areas of China and Taiwan. In many places where there have been great effects

However, the more basic solution (sodium bicarbonate) also had a negative impact on the germination of the radish seeds. Thus, a better a hypothesis would have been that a solution that is too basic or too acidic would have a negative impact on the germination of radish seeds. The data shows how specific plants have specific pH ranges in which they can flourish. This means that the radish seeds cannot flourish in a pH range that is too basic or too acidic. These results give an inside look on the effect acid rain is having on our environment. According to Woodfall (2017), acid rain impacts lakes, wetlands, other aquatic environments and forests. The acidic rain causes waters to become acidic which in turn impacts the animals living within the water. Even though some of the aquatic animals may be able to cope with the changes in acidity this does not mean that the animals that feed on them will. The effect of the acid rain slowly works its way up the food chain impacting more than just the aquatic animals. Also, acid rain affects forests. It robs soil of nutrients and releases aluminum into the soil thus making it hard for the trees to take in the water they need to stay alive. Acid rain leaves trees unable to protect themselves from temperature changes, its ability to reproduce, insects and

Substances are released which run off into water bodies and toxic to water life. Acidic materials deposited directly from the atmosphere also have the effect of altering the acid balance in water bodies and this too has an effect on the life they support. Acidic deposition onto sensitive buildings causes decay of stonework and other materials.(Environment Agency: Acid Rain, page 1)

Acidity of an ecosystem, measured in pH, is a crucial factor to the survival of a species in an ecosystem. Altering it can have result in dramatically negative effects, in spite of the fact that pH of an ecosystem has been dramatically changed over a relatively short period of time due to various human activities. For example, acid rain is a major environmental problem that is caused by human-made pollution. When fossil fuels are burnt to get energy, pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides get mixed into the rainwater and eventually are evaporated into the atmosphere. These gases enter the atmosphere, and mix with water in the water cycle to form an acidic mixture of water and gases. This water falls in the form of acid rain, which

Acid deposition can come in two forms, dry and wet. Wet deposition is when the acid falls in the form of fog, snow or other precipitation. Dry deposition is found in dry areas where it does not precipitate often. In these areas the chemicals fall as dust or smoke, and stick to whatever they land on. Acid deposition can be result to both natural and manmade sources. Natural sources of acid deposition include electrical storms, volcanoes, and decaying vegetation. Man-made emissions, from power plants that burn fossil fuels are released into the atmosphere as nitrogen oxides (NOx), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). These elements react to oxygen, water, and other gasses in the atmosphere in order to form acidic compounds. These acidic compounds then fall in either a wet or dry form. Acid rain can have a potentially devastating effects on the ecosystem it falls on. When acid rain hits the ground, it faces a natural buffer in the soil often in the form of limestone and calcium carbonate. The water will then travel into either a stream or a lake, where it affects fish. If the fallen rain has a pH at or below 5 undesirable species invade, often in the form of mosses or plankton. The top layer of water becomes too acidic for the inhabitants reproductive cycle to work properly, slowly killing off the

The first major effect that Ocean Acidification has is the reduction of pH levels in the ocean. PH is very important in this case because it generally determines how acidic water is. The normal pH balance of water is 7. When Ocean Acidification occurs the pH levels in the ocean can dip below 7 therefore increasing the acidity of the water. Even though humans may be able to adapt to these kind of changes other species in the ocean cannot. Scientists estimate that by the end of this century Ocean Acidification can consequently cause the acidity of ocean water to increase by nearly 150%. That level of acidic water hasn't been seen or thrived in for almost 20 million years. Before major industries were created increasing CO2 in the atmosphere, the ocean relied on minerals carried into the ocean by rivers and lakes to balance out pH levels. Now that humans are producing too much Co2 for the atmosphere to handle the rivers and lakes can not carry enough minerals to keep pH in balance. If pH levels continue to fall major populations that call the ocean home will no longer exist. All it

Acid deposition effects water systems because it lowers the pH in the water, creating adverse effects. More Acidic water will also more readily absorb aluminum leached from soil runoff. The combination of aluminum and acidic water is very harmful to many species. When biomagnification occurs many species will die off resulting in less biodiversity in the water system. Dead or dying trees is a common sight with acid deposition in effect. Acid rain leaches aluminum from the soil, doing so sucking the nutrients from the tree and causing death. At high elevation acidic fog, or clouds can strip the nutrients from the trees foliage’ causing them to lose leaves and die. The trees are also less able to absorb sunlight, and with that will not be able to achieve photosynthesis. As well as rural areas, urban areas also get affected. If buildings are made out of marble or limestone, the stone will begin to peel and chip away over time. This is possible because when the main crust chips away underneath is something composed of gypsum. A mineral that forms from the reaction between calcite, water, and sulfuric acid. This mineral can be slowly eaten away and destroyed by acid

Acid precipitation is a wide term that incorporates any type of precipitation with acidic parts, for example, sulfuric or nitric acid that tumble to the ground from the climate in wet or dry structures. This can incorporate into rain, snow, haze, hail or even clean that is acidic. Acid rain as numerous natural impacts, yet none is more prominent than its effect on lakes, streams, wetlands, and other amphibian situations.

Acid rain is rain that has been made acidic by certain pollutants in the air and has low pH levels that can harm the environment. It is a type of acid deposition that can appear in many forms such as, wet deposition, which can be rain, sleet snow or fog that is more acidic than normal, and dry deposition, where gases and dust particles become acidic. (Epa.gov) Acid deposition in wet and dry forms, falls on buildings, cars and trees and makes lakes acidic, which then leads to the danger of plant and animal life. Dry acid deposition though, can be inhaled by humans, which can then cause health problems. (Epa.gov)

First is the acidification. Chemical reactions involving air pollutants can create acidic compounds. Sometimes, when an air pollutant, such as sulfuric acid combines with the water droplets that make up clouds, the water droplets become acidic, forming acid rain. Acid rain can kill trees and harm animals, fish, and other wildlife. When acid rain gets into soils, it makes the soil become unfit for many living things due to the change of nutrition. Acid rain also changes the chemistry of the water, harming aquatic life and even people’s health.

Sulfuric acid in polluted precipitation interferes with the fish's ability to take in oxygen, salt, and nutrients. For freshwater fish, maintaining osmoregulation, the ability to maintain a state of balance between salt and minerals in the organism's tissue, is essential to stay alive. As shown in the figure in the next page, acid molecules cause mucus to form in their gills preventing the fish to absorb oxygen well. Furthermore, a low pH level will throw off the balance of salt in the fish's tissue. Calcium levels of some fish cannot be maintained due to the changes in pH level. This causes a problem in reproduction: the eggs are too brittle or weak. Lacking calcium causes weak spines and deformities in bones. Sometimes when acid rainfall runs off the land, it carries fertilizers with it. Fertilizer helps stimulate the growth of algae because of the amount of nitrogen in it. However, because of the increase in the death of fish the decomposition takes up even more oxygen. This takes away from surviving fish. In other terms, acid rain does not help aquatic ecosystems in anyway.

Acid rain can hurt the plants in the forest environment because when the plant start drinking the acid rain it makes the plants natural defense weaker. In doing that they are easier to die by diseases because they do not have much natural defense to protect them. It can also cause fires to the environment. Acid rain is known to take the nutrients out of soil killing trees, plants, and crops. With the low nutrients it does damage to the red spruce tree

You can collect data by observing the frogs. The acid rain is present in the environment, and that is evident through the fact that frog's skin absorbs the acidity of the rainfall. If acid rain is there, this may be the negative factor affecting all the animals and trees.

     Acid rain also soaks into ground and dissolves nutrients from the soil. When the plants call upon these nutrients to grow, the absence kills the vegetation. Over a short period of time plants begin

Pollution often releases chemicals such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the air that react with the other chemicals to create acid rain. Because water is so essential to different organisms, the acidification of water affects other biochemical processes and various aspects of our environment, including agriculture, tree damage at high elevations, and acidification of the soil. (US Environmental Protection Agency) These effects negatively impact other organisms, such as plants that can only grow in a specific range of pH’s, which could lead to ion imbalances in the soil, further altering the biochemistry. (Nie et al. 2013) Lack of plant growth would cause herbivores to die out, causing carnivores to die out and shifting the entire food web, which could have drastic results in the biosphere. Looking at soil acidification specifically, it has been shown that earthworms are extremely important for soil chemistry as they filter and replenish nutrients into the soil. (Beck et al. 2005) They also affect soil enzyme activity, due to the microbes living in their guts. (Tica et al. 2013)