Reviving Dead Zones - Avid Summary
- Dead zones are linked to the phenomenon called eutrophication, The over enrichment of the sea by nutrients that promote plant growth
- The ocean needs nutrients, but too much nutrients greatly accelerate plant growth which leads to disruptive algal blooms and other unwanted effects.
- Large increases in nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations enable these minute photosynthetic organisms to multiply greatly
- As the phytoplankton population greatly increases the water eventually turns green or brown; this shade deprives the plants living below them of sunlight
- Lower oxygen concentration appear when bacteria consume oxygen to break down the masses of organic material that result from animal wastes and dead bodies of organisms that multiply during eutrophication.
- The details of dead zones vary according to the local biological and physical conditions as well as the rate of supply of plant nutrients from the land.
- The supply of nitrogen-containing compounds to the sea grew by 80 percent from 1860-1990
- An imbalance in the food chain can be worsened by intense commercial fishing
- The Black Sea became a dead zone because a pipeline that drained chemicals, such as agricultural runoff and industrial waste water, from 11 countries.
- This ecosystem was once diverse and highly resilient
- Because the increase in nutrients, phytoplankton bloom occurred.
- This regions natural ecosystem was seriously degraded
- The area began to recover only when the regimes fell, ending economic planning. Farmers had little capital to buy fertilizer so agricultural activities slowed.
- Restoring dead zones requires reducing nutrient delivery from nearby lands.
- The resistance to recovery occurs for three reasons: River catchments which typically possess a huge capacity for storing nutrients over long periods of time, Having a healthy population of marine plants and animals hat can provide the seed stock, and eutrophication often causes alterations in ecosystem composition that aren't easily reversed.
- A key to reviving dead zones is for governments to believe it is an important goal and to take the lead.
- Costal dead zones remind us that humanity cannot simply expect natural ecosystems to absorb our wastes without severe and
often unexpected consequences
Summary:
This articles informs us of what happens to water when it is exposed to too much nutrients. What happens is more phytoplankton are produced creating a bloom. this bloom causes the water to turn green or brown making it difficult for the sunlight to reach the organisms at the lower levels. The nitrogen within the water has increased by 80 percent from 1860-1990. the Black Sea is a prime example of eutrophication, or having too much nutrients. The Black Sea has a pipeline which drains chemicals from 11 different countries. The chemicals are mainly from agricultural waste. The Black Sea developed a phytoplankton bloom and eventually had a dead zone. But one the European regimes had fallen, the economics had fallen as well resulting in the farmers being unable to purchase and use fertilizer. The Black Sea eventually revived but it did take time. This shows that it is possible to recover dead zone when you stop fertilization and give it time. But mainly it shows us the effects of what our waste does to the world.
This article makes me see how big of an impact we have on other living creatures. We can completely destroy an ecosystem from the waste we produce. The dead zones cause major problems not only for the organisms in the ocean but also for us as a loss of resource. Although, from the Black Sea, we can sea that reversing this is possible, it could be very difficult if we don't have sacrifice. We mast sacrifice some things in order to help other organisms. Humans need to have a better knowledge of what we do matters to this world.