Two-thirds of the world is covered with water. It is exposed to things such as over fishing, dumping from humans, and run off pollution. These kinds of pollution affect the ecosystems by killing animals and damaging their habitats.Toxins from pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemicals used on farms contaminate nearby rivers that flow into the ocean, which can cause extensive loss of marine life in bays and estuaries leading to the creation of dead zones.
Background Research:Pollution is affecting the ocean environment by hurting the wildlife under the sea. Oil spills, road run-off, and human sewage are some examples of issues damaging the stability of the under water ecosystems.
Which levels of organization does it directly affect?
The specific level of organization it affects is the ecosystem. The levels above the ecosystem level are the Biomes and Biosphere. The levels below it are the community, population, then organism.
What resource is affected by water pollution?
Ocean pollution affects the vegetation in that specific ecosystem. Without the plant life, the animals in that ecosystem would not have a source of food, and would decrease in population.
How does this issue affect the Carbon and Nitrogen cycles?
When acid rain and fossil fuels are released into the water, the carbon becomes unbalanced from a rush of carbon being released. Nitrogen can react with hydrogen in the atmosphere and creates acid deposition which damages the marine by increasing pH of water.
How does an animal adapt to the new polluted water?
A dolphin, for example, lives out in the far waters of the ocean. When oil drillers pump chemicals into the water, the dolphin suffers. The dolphins are affected by the pollution in their normal habitats, so they move towards shore and adapt to the clean water. Unfortunately, the dolphins are exposed to more human activity and are stranded, sometimes harmed or killed.
Underwater Organisms being harmed
The seaweed in this ecosystem becomes harmful and unsafe when mixed with chemicals from pollution.
Pink Coral becomes a limited resource when the new components from human activity are exposed to it.
A Great White shark will have a hard time finding food when its primary resources' diet is in harm.
A dolphin can move towards shore if it's habitat is affected by an unnatural action.
Food Chain
This is an example of a simple underwater food chain with the shark as the apex predator.
This is an example of a simple underwater food chain with the shark as the apex predator.
Food Web:
This is an example of a food web. There are a variety of producers that pass energy onto the primary consumers. Again, the shark is the apex predator of this ecosystem.
This is an example of a food web. There are a variety of producers that pass energy onto the primary consumers. Again, the shark is the apex predator of this ecosystem.
Symbiotic Relationships:
There is a small fish connected to the sharks belly. The fish is a remora fish. It travels with the shark and eats the sharks leftovers. This is an example of a commensal relationship because the shark doesn't mind.
There are fish living under the jellyfish. The stinging tentacles do not affect the little fish, providing them with protection. This is another example of commensalism because the jellyfish doesn't care that the fish are hiding beneath it.
The clown fish lives in a sea anemone. The anemone provides a stinging shock to predators and protects the clown fish. In return the clown fish provides the anemone with fertilizer. This is an example of mutualism.
Disruption
For example, if an oil spill occurred in the ecosystem, that would disrupt the natural flow of the ecosystem and some animals and plants would decrease in population. The survivors would move to new waters that may be overflown with human activity. Those organisms may be fish that are unhealthy and may possibly be caught and sold. The unhealthy fish would damage the consumer who bought it and the human would develop a sickness from the polluted fish.
Disruption
For example, if an oil spill occurred in the ecosystem, that would disrupt the natural flow of the ecosystem and some animals and plants would decrease in population. The survivors would move to new waters that may be overflown with human activity. Those organisms may be fish that are unhealthy and may possibly be caught and sold. The unhealthy fish would damage the consumer who bought it and the human would develop a sickness from the polluted fish.
Impactful Questions:
- How does pollution destruct an ocean ecosystem? Pollution affects an ecosystem in many ways. For example, if a dolphin finds food near shore and gets its beak caught in a plastic bag, the dolphin will die from hunger or suffocation.
- What are some types of pollution that affect the marine life? There are a variety of harmful things that can tear apart a marine ecosystem. Some are litter, oil spills, human activity, road run off, acid rain, and noise pollution just to name a few.
- Can under water pollution affect humans? Aside from animal loving hippies, under water pollution can affect humans by the produce they buy. If a human goes to the market and buys a fish, unaware that it came from an area from an oil spill, the human will become harmed from sickness.
- How can I prevent underwater pollution? Well for starters, don't litter. There are probably some community service groups around your area that deal with some minor clean ups to help the marine become a cleaner environment.
SOURCES:
- http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/explore/pristine-seas/critical-issues-marine-pollution/
- http://www.garf.org/trever/anem/anenome.html
- http://www.seaphotos.com/symbiosis.html#
- http://marineecosystemproject.weebly.com/food-web.html
- http://www.dolphins-world.com/
- http://marinebio.org/oceans/ocean-dumping/