How Acid Rain Affects Organisms in Aquatic Biomes

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

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

Acid rain has also affected the ground too. The acidic liquid that has made it to ground

Ocean Acidification is a process that occurs everyday and majorly affects our planet, but most people don’t even realize it exists. Though it can technically be argued that Ocean Acidification has some benefits for the planet, most of the time the effects of this process are very poor and negatively affect the entire world around us. Human evolution has played a major role in contributing to Ocean Acidification. Whenever humans use energy we release Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere or also known as CO2. This can be in the form of burning fossil fuels from the ground or the removal of national forest by burning. CO2 is a greenhouse gas, which means whenever we can emit it in large quantities or unnatural amounts it can have negative effects on the atmosphere. These high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere result in climate change and more specifically Ocean Acidification. Ocean Acidification occurs when excess Carbon Dioxide is absorbed into the ocean. When this process takes place it can completely disturb the chemical balances of the water. For example, it can reduce pH levels, Biodiversity, and the abundance of calcifying species.

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

Not all phytoplankton taxa are expected to respond the same to ocean acidification. Some taxa respond negatively to ocean acidification. The coupling of atmospheric CO2 with ocean carbonate affects carbonate secreting and calcifying marine organisms (Hannisdal 2012). The haptophyta and myzozoa

The range is between 0 and 14 and shows how basic or acidic the tested water is on a logarithmic scale. The lower the number, the more acidic the water is. A healthy lake is slightly acidic at 6.5 and in levels lower than 4.2, fish will not be able to survive. As pH levels move away from 6.5, more stress could be caused to aquatic life which could raise mortality rates. Changes in pH levels can also be natural or anthropogenic. Natural influences include carbonic materials in the water. When carbonic minerals are in the water, the alkalinity of the water increases (Host 2005). The levels of pH can also fluctuate due to human-induced reasons such as pollution and acid rain. Acid rain is any form of precipitation that has a pH level less than five (Mack 2014). Point source pollution can also influence pH levels. Chemicals from point source pollution result from agriculture and industrial runoff. Decreases in pH levels could result from respiration, decomposition, and an increase in carbon dioxide. Increases in pH levels result from photosynthesis and a decrease in carbon

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)

If the acid pollution in the air continuously adds up the acidity in the rainwater will increase slowly, but surely.

Another form of industrial waste that contributes to water pollution is acid rain. Acid rain is a product of industries burning coal. The burning of coal produces sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide, and when these chemicals combine with the earth’s atmosphere it forms acid rain The Northeastern part of the United States has the worst acid rain levels in the world. More specific, the states with the highest concentration are Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and some boarding parts of Canada and New England area. The falling acid rain can destroy plants and animals in several different ways. The acidification of a lake, river, or stream because of the high acidic levels in the water kills algae. Since algae are the main source of food, for many species of fish, they will also suffer from the high acid levels.

The purpose behind this letter to you is to inform you with the big issue that is taking place in our planet, which is the effect of acid rain on lakes and streams (aquatic systems).

The negative impacts of increased acidity includes the difficulty for marine animals to form shells and skeletons and corrosion coral, however it also does have positive effects, which includes helping marine plants with the process of

The world we live in is so vast and exciting. Seventy percent of our world is liquid water we call the ocean. In the ocean there are many creatures that each are unique in their own way. However, it is possible that in our lifetime, many marine organisms will become endangered or possibly extinct. The loss of these mejestic marine creatures will be caused mainly because of human advancements in which fossil fuels are used to produce energy. Biodiversity is greatly affected by this increase in acidity. As the ocean acidifies, multiple social and economic issues arise. As humans, we rely on the ocean for almost everything. Much of our food, clothing, cleaning products and cosmetics come from the ocean. With the loss of