The ocean is a vital part of the world's ecosystem, it regulates weather around the world, supplies nutrients to billions, even trillions of organisms, and covers roughly seventy percent of the earth. The unfortunate thing is that the state of the ocean is degrading and becoming a danger to many organisms who depend on it, the acidification of the ocean is causing many organisms to become poisoned or die. Global climate change is hurting the environment, especially the ocean, and is actively deceiving that fact that its current status is not improving. Human impact on the oceans and atmosphere is real, coral reefs around highly populated areas are becoming bleached, and the impact humans have needs to be minimized.
The atmosphere plays a big
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Phytoplankton and algae provide the nutrients that marine life requires to survive. Phytoplankton serve as a food source for many small marine organisms, while algae is producing oxygen that increases oxygen levels in the water, but as well as in the air for non-marine organisms to use. The warming oceans have made it harder more phytoplankton to re-produce, and excluding the Arctic and Antarctic waters, the phytoplankton level have been dropping throughout the world. (Holmes, 3). On the contrary to the previous point, phytoplankton levels have been found to be increasing in the northern Atlantic Ocean by the Silk "Tape" method. (Holmes, 3). The Forel-Ole Assay method has shown that the phytoplankton are not just increasing in the northern Atlantic Ocean, but also in parts of the Mediterranean Sea. (Holmes, 3). Because of the variation of data between all methods of collecting and measuring phytoplankton, data has shown there has been a twenty percent to seventy percent decrease in phytoplankton over the past century. (Holmes, 4). There has been a big decreases in phytoplankton levels over the past 20 years. Since 1990 the levels have been estimated to have dropped approximately forty percent around the globe. (Holmes, 2). These warming conditions provide few positive for phytoplankton, one being slightly faster reproduction. The negatives outweigh the positive, the increase in greenhouse gas concentration has made less oxygen available for the phytoplankton to reproduce, so while they can reproduce faster they can't reproduce as much because of lacking nutrients. (Holmes, 3). In places where phytoplankton can reproduce they can become less dense because of the heat in the area. This affects the area negatively because they become so dense that they actually prevent any upwelling from occurring so the nutrient rich waters stay beneath. So once all
Climate change and Global Warming are out of control. This means that, no matter what policies, processes or actions are implemented, the Earth as we know it will never be the same again. There is significant evidence to support this hypothesis. The dilemma becomes whether we can limit the damage and adapt to a new status quo or not. Rising sea levels and the damage caused by this phenomenon has irreversible impacts on coastlines worldwide. Damage to sensitive reef systems cannot be fixed. This also has permanent impacts of the ecology not just of those immediate areas but also the ocean as a whole.
Glibert, Patricia M. and Daniel E. Terlizzi. “Nutrients, Phytoplankton, and Pfiesteria In the Chesapeake Bay.” Available: http://www.arec.umd.edu/policy/Pfiesteria/terlizzi/terlizzi.htm (22 Nov. 1999).
Changes in population size due to a changing habitat can affect population size which in turn affects further reproduction and cause issues in higher trophic levels (Mackas, et al., 2012). As a generalization, zooplankton feed on phytoplankton which are their photosynthetic counterparts in the water column. Zooplankton are unable to combat currents, but they do migrate in diurnal patterns horizontally through the water to reach shallower depths in the
Somehow our oceans maintain the balance between being some of the most powerful forces on the earth, and the most easily disturbed masses on the planet. There are so many things that could go wrong within the countless cycles, and the delicate processes that stabalize nature and sustain the biosphere; and people are continually interfering with these cycles. Ocean acidification is one of the most obvious results of human interference upon nature. “Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we've been ignorant of their value.” ("R. Buckminster Fuller, in Memoriam").
Some studies have found “that atmospheric CO2 concentration is approximately 383 parts per million by volume (ppmv), a level not seen in at least 650,000 years, and it is projected to increase by 0.5% per year throughout the 21st century.” (Guinotte) “This is because…the ocean absorbs about a third of fossil fuel emissions, but this amount is likely to increase to 90% in the future.” (Bralower) As a result, “the chemistry of the world's oceans is changing at a rate not seen for 65 million years, with far-reaching implications for marine biodiversity and food security, according to a new United Nations study...” (Knight) “…This change is cause for serious concern [for] many marine organisms…, [because they] may not be able to adapt quickly enough to survive these changes.” (Guinotte)
In the marine ecosystem the energy from the sunlight powers photosynthesis and photosynthetic creatures like algae, seaweeds, green plants, and multiple sorts of bacteria. These photosynthetic organisms are the start of our food chain. These organisms are primary producers, which allow the ecosystem to grow. One negativity to primary production would be climate change. Climate change influences the physical and chemical marine environment, which affects the food web, and it hurts the production of primary
Ocean Pollution is a serious issue in today's global politics. The delicate balance of Earth's ecosystem is put in jeopardy when the ocean is not clean. Problem evolving from ocean pollution directly harm marine life and indirectly affect human health and the Earth's many valuable resources. Ocean Pollution is a Broad term that encpompasses any and all foregin matter that directly or indirectly makes its way into the ocean. This includes everything from the extreme: oil spills, Toxic Waste dumping and industrial dumping-- to the small scael: human activities and basic carelessness. Because the oceans and all other water bodies are invariably, somehow connected, and because they account for 3/4 of the Earth's surface, they are an ideal method of transportation for pollution, allowing the rapid spread of seemingly far away toxins into a river near you! It is increasingly important that we educate ourselves as to what, exactly, ocean pollution is, so that we can identify the causes at their source and take action in small and large ways, and hopefully, prevent this terrible form of pollution from getting any worse than it is today.
According to NOAA phytoplankton are microscopic organisms that continuously convert sunlight and nutrients into living tissue. Phytoplankton can be harmful to the bay because they at an uncontrollable rate causing harmful algae blooms when there is an abundance of nutrients. Phytoplankton also serve as the main food source for a larger but still microscopic organism named Zooplankton. Marine Bio.org did a study on zooplnkton revealing that they are very weak swimmers making them an easy food source for any larger organsim. Zooplanktons’ main purpose serves as the main food source for small fish and
Smith, V. H., Joye, S. B., & Howarth, R. W. (2006). Eutrophication of freshwater and marine
Water pollution has had devastating effects on the environment, which include irreversible effects on the oceans ecosystem. People often underestimate the importance of the ocean. They don’t realize how much damage pollution has caused to the ocean and the thousands of creatures that inhabit it. Earth is a huge place, but resources are actually very limited and will not last forever unless there is a balance. We must protect the resources we have in order for them to last into the next generation.
It also prevents competitive ex- e clusion among phytoplankton species. Roy and Chattopadhyay (2007b) showed that toxin-allelopathy of a third species helps in the coexistence of two other non-toxic phytoplankton species whereas in the absence of allelopathy weak competitor among them would have extinct. Analyzing marine phytoplankton data, Roy (2009) found that presence of toxic phytoplankton can be helpful in increasing diversity of non-toxic phytoplankton. In this work, using a
Oceans are such so vast that people underestimate the impact their actions —seeming so insignificant— have on them. Humans have by and large taken the oceans for granted; not considering how important a healthy ocean is to our survival. A popular mind-set is that the oceans are a bottomless supply of fish, natural resources, and an infinite waste dump. There are myriad reasons why the oceans should be saved and the most obvious one is marine life. With 71% of the Earth being covered by water, it is obvious that sea creatures are predominant form of life, making up 80% of the species of life on Earth. However, as important as marine life is, that is not the only reason why saving the oceans is crucial. The ocean floor provides natural resources such as, oil, natural gas, petroleum, minerals, medications, and ingredients for foods and products. The economic benefits of the oceans are huge and significant, as well. Fishing and fish products have provided employment to 38 million people and have generated about $124 billion in economic benefits. However, oceans are on the verge of crisis, marine life, natural resources, transportation, the economy, and important ingredients are at risk due to overfishing, pollution, and acidification. Thus, in this essay I will argue that, oceans are not impervious to human activity and threatening the health of the ocean threatens the health of humanity, since oceans key to our survival.
Plankton are marine microorganisms that live in various aquatic environments. The term “plankton” may include organisms such as protists, bacteria, as well as small plants and animals. Plankton move by drifting through water; they are also are photosynthetic organisms, meaning they absorb sunlight in order to obtain energy. According to NOAA, “Most phytoplankton are buoyant and float in the upper part of the ocean, where sunlight penetrates the water. Phytoplankton also require inorganic nutrients such as nitrates, phosphates, and sulfur which they convert into proteins, fats, and carbohydrates” (NOAA, 2009).
These results agree with the hypothesis that our “untouched and super-productive world” is affecting marine life ecosystems (Vannela, 2012). All of these results combined confirm the overall hypothesis that pollution is getting worse in the ocean and more marine life ecosystems are being affected, but there
Phytoplankton is a primary food source to zooplankton and the rest of food web in the ocean. The marine food web is really important to understand as it has many levels as we do ourselves and on land. The larger animals eat the smaller animals and it continues to the smallest organisms that are found in the ocean. Phytoplankton, are able to produce their own food and photosynthesize which not all marine organisms can do. Without them the entire food web would be displaced. These small organisms are so tiny, you would not be able to see them without a microscope, but they are such an important role in the food web by being able to produce their own food. They primarily use the sunlight to photosynthesize whi...