Reviving Dead Zones
Notes
- Both the Dead Sea and the Mississippi Delta were large dead zones in the 1970's
- Hypoxia is when there is too little oxygen for marine life to survive
- Oxygen enters the water either through diffusion or photosynthesis
- Eutrophication is when there are too many nutrients in the water
SummaryWhen people think of environmental problems, often the first thing that comes to mind is deforestation or global warming. But these issues are not exclusive to the land or the air. A major issue when it comes to climate change is pollution is the changes occurring in the waters of the ocean. The ocean is an extremely important aspect to life on Earth. Eutrophication is one of the main worries, this is when there are too many nutrients in the water which causes a large grow of phytoplankton. These plankton can get so thick that it blocks light from reaching any plants underneath or they use so much oxygen that there is not enough for the other life in the surrounding waters. These can arguably more dangerous than some of the pollution and climate changes affects on land, but either way they are all important.
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OpinionI had no idea just how deadly a deadzone could truly be. I also never would have thought that having too many nutrients in the water would be a bad thing, I would just assume that it would all mix and mingle with the surrounding waters until it all evens out. This is not what happens though, it leads to a massive burst of plankton that can just be too much biomass for the ecosystem to handle and it begins to fail. I believe these issue to be just as important as the ones you find in the air or on land.
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