Ocean Dead Zones

Ocean Dead Zones

Have you ever heard of an ocean dead zone?  It is basically exactly what is sounds like.  In a dead zone in the ocean, there is no form of life.  Why is that?  Well, what happens for a dead zone in the ocean to form, according to the site http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/deadzone.html , is that there is pollution that makes its way into the ocean in the form of runoff, and this causes the growth of a lot of algae.  This algae then will sink to the bottom and begin to decompose.  This however, poses a threat.  When the algae decomposes, it will consume a lot of oxygen.  With this decrease in oxygen level, the marine life In the area can't survive.  So, animals die or move locations due to this pollution problem.  According to the site http://www.onearth.org/earthwire/devil-deep-blue-sea , The Gulf of Mexico has 5,000 miles of beach front water that is completely uninhabitable for marine life due to the pollution around that area.  It is one of the largest dead zones in the world actually.  So, imagine with all of the pollution that occurs in the world, just how many dead zones could there be? Well, it is estimated that there are around 400 of these dead zones throughout the world, but that is only on areas that have been studied.  There are a lot of areas unstudied, so the estimate is more around 1000 dead zones.  The dead zones are usually located along the shores around the world.  Why is this?  Primarily runoff pollution.  This pollution is filled with nitrogen from fertilizers.  There are dead zones that are inland as well, but they are usually in the ocean off shore and near the coast.  When you think about it, that's not very healthy for the water to be polluted like that, especially when people go and use the ocean for recreational purposes.  That can be very dangerous to one's health.  As you might expect, this isn't just something that can be looked over like it is no big deal.  These dead zones have a huge impact on the ecosystems around it as well as the economy.  According to the site http://www.seaweb.org/resources/briefings/dead_zone.php for example, it is said that the fisheries and shipment canals in the Gulf are being affected by these dead zones.  Not only that, but the fish that are being caught in these fisheries are believed to possibly be affected by the pollution as well.  Not only fish, but other organisms that are in hatcheries, like shrimp.  On an ecosystem level of thinking, the dead zones put a loop in the migration and spawning of fish. The food sources of fish are nonexistent as well, so that is causing problems for the fish too.  I hope that this article was helpful in providing information about what a dead zone is.  The pollution that is going into these waters is putting a great disruption in the ecosystems in the waters as well as off shore and in the economy.  Something needs to be done to reduce the effects that this pollution is causing. 

Aquaculture

What is aquaculture?  Well, according to the site http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/aquaculture/what_is_aquaculture.html , aquaculture is basically the harvesting, or in other words, farming and breeding, of different types of plants and animals that live in a wide range of marine environments.  Aquaculture can also be referred to as fish farming, in simpler terms.  This farming produces many different types of fish, from bait fish to food fish to fish that are in aquariums.  Plants and other items that aquaculture produces include sea vegetables, mollusks, and even some algae.  Also, aquaculture produces crustaceans like mussels, oysters and shrimps  Now, how exactly does this aquaculture work?  Why is it called farming?  Well, these fish and plants are formed in hatcheries and then grow larger in tanks or maybe even ponds.  Something I found interesting on this site while researching aquaculture was that the plants that are produced in aquaculture can be used in so many things.  A few that are listed include food products and pharmaceutical products.  I found that interesting because a lot of people might not know that those plants are used for very important things.  Producing many different species of fish and plants, there are obviously two different types of aquaculture.  These would be marine aquaculture, which is salt water, and the freshwater aquaculture.  So for example, fish like salmon are bred in a marine aquaculture environment, where as fish like trout and bass or bred in a freshwater aquaculture.  So, where does aquaculture happen, who does it?  Well, aquaculture is done all over the world.  The United States does produce aquaculture, however, it is not a big producer compared to the rest of the world.  According to the site http://thenaa.net/faqs/about-us-aquaculture , about 88% of the seafood that the United States  consumes is imported from other places.  According to the site http://fishery.about.com/od/CommonAquacultureSpecies/a/Aquaculture-Top-10-Aquaculture-Countries.htm , the largest industry in the United States is that of oysters, clams and mussels.  This accounts for 67% of the total United States aquaculture production.  So, which country has the largest aquaculture production? On the same site, the list the top 10, number 1 being China, 2 being Japan, 3 being India, 4 Chile, 5 Vietnam, 6 Indonesia, 7 Thailand, 8 Bangladesh, 9 Korea, and 10 is the Philippines.  It is estimated the only about 5% of the seafood supply in the United States comes from U.S. aquaculture production- everything else is imported.  According to the site http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/aquaculture/aquaculture_in_us.html , the United States trade deficit on seafood is about $11.2 billion each year.  This means that the value of the seafood that the United States imports is greater than the amount of seafood exported by that much.  That's a lot of money, you may not have known that much money was spent on something you probably never thought cost that much- seafood.  Obviously if the United States spends so much money on imports of seafood, these aquacultures in other countries are very important parts of their culture and way of life.  It helps their economies and creates jobs for people, and they also re-stock certain areas with species that are less populated, so it is also important not only for the economy, but for the environment as well. I hope this article helped provide some information about what aquaculture is and how it plays a major role in everyday life in the world's economy. 

Is Water a Human Right?

There is a very difficult subject that is constantly being debated about, and that is the debate of whether or not water is a human right.  What do you think?  Is water a human right?  When thinking about this, there are many things to consider.  For example, on the site http://www.unric.org/en/water/27360-making-water-a-human-right , it is explained that the United Nations General Assembly does in fact consider water to be a human right.  They care about the quality of the water, making sure that it is safe to drink, just as much as they care about the availability of the water.  It is not stated that the availability of water is not a human right in the Declaration of Human Rights, but the United Nations considers the availability of water to be a human right because according to them, if that is not a right, then that would also take away other rights, like right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being.  They say that if water is not a human right, and the availability of water is not a human right, then that takes away other human rights, so the question that if water is a human right or not is clear that it is a human right.  According to the site, http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/human_right_to_water.shtml , The United Nations General Assembly declared that water is a human right on July 28, 2010, in Resolution 64/292.  What did this actually do?  Well, in this Resolution, states and international organizations need to provide everything imaginable to provide safe and healthy drinking water for all.  If you would like to learn more about water and why it is crucial that it as well as sanitation are human rights then visit the site http://www.righttowater.info/ .  At this site, you can find out about how you can get involved, or where to learn about the rights of water in some more detail. 

In my opinion, water should definitely be a human right.  I fully agree that if that is not a right, or the availability of water and the access to water is not a right, that other rights would be affected.  Not only that, but water is used in so many different ways.  If water is not a right, and you had to buy it for everything, things would be a lot different because of embedded water, a topic I talked about earlier on the blog.  Basically embedded water is water that you use that you may not be aware you use, for instance the water it takes to make your food and clothes.  It should be a human right because it provides the health and well being as well as a lot of things you use in everyday life.  Water is such a precious resource that if you don't consider it a human right then a lot of things would not be possible in everyday life.  I hope this blog was helpful in describing why water is a human right and why the cleanliness of water is just as important as the access of water.  Just because water is a human right doesn't mean that the access to water is always there.  The access is just as important because it does so many things for health and everyday life.

The Lichen Study

A few weeks ago our class completed a study on two different types of lichens that grow on maple and ash trees.  These two types of lichens are Physcia millegrana and Candellara concolor.  Physica millegrana is a lichen that is more blue and green in color.  On the other hand, Candellara concolor is more of a yellow colored lichen.  What is a lichen, though?  Well, according to the site http://www.decodedscience.org/little-lichens-more-than-a-plant/20893 , a lichen is basically a hybrid between a fungus and an algae.  Different types of lichen grow in different types of air quality environments, good and bad.  We are studying the relationship between lichen growth and pollutants in the air, specifically SO2 and NO2.  What exactly are sulfur and nitrogen dioxides?  Well, they are each linked to one of the six criteria air pollutants, those being nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides and neither are good for one's health.  So you may be wondering, where do these nitrogen and sulfur dioxides come from?  Well, according to the site http://www.epa.gov/airquality/sulfurdioxide/ , the major source of sulfur dioxides is a result of big industries burning fossil fuels as well as the burning of fuel that contains sulfur.  This is also where you find most of the sources of nitrogen dioxides.  These sources include motor vehicles and power plants.  This information was also found on the same site that is linked above.  So what kind of effect do these pollutants have on plants, say, lichens There are many different theories being said about this relationship, some saying that more pollution will lead to more lichen, others saying that more pollution will lead to less lichen in the area.  As a class it was being discussed that more pollution will lead to more lichen growth.  According to the site http://staff.concord.org/~btinker/gaiamatters/investigations/lichens/affectslichens.html , lichen will either be destroyed by the pollution or a different type of lichen more tolerant to the pollution will start to grow instead.  There are many different types of lichen, and some are more tolerant to pollution than others, so, a new species of lichen will grow depending on the type and the amount of pollution there is in an area.  So, how did we complete this study?  Well, our Professor gave us three areas to each find our own individual tree to measure lichen on.  It had to be either a maple or an ash tree, and you knew this because if you looked at the branches, they branch off in the same spot from the branch, they do not alternate which side of the branch a new branch comes off from.  They are mirror images on one side of the branch to the other.  Once we looked at the branches and found a tree, we had to measure the lichen around the tree in all four cardinal directions, using a wired instrument that consists of 4 vertically connecting quadrants which are each 100cm2.  We would hold this piece 1 meter above the ground to ensure it was a good area that air pollution might be affecting the tree.  Too low and your results might be inconclusive and too high the same.  That is why we measured around the middle area of the tree.  This is also where most lichen would usually grow.  So once you help the piece 1 meter above the ground, you had to look to see how much lichen there was present in each of the four quadrants, in all four cardinal directions.  This would tell you that if there was pollution present, which direction it was coming from more.  We would rate the amount of lichen present in each quadrant on a scale 0-3, 3 being a lot of lichen, 0 being no lichen.  My tree had no lichen present on it at all, so the standard deviation of my tree lichen was 0.  My tree was on East green, with GPS coordinates 39°19'33.22"N 82° 5'56.82"W .  The point of this study is to pass down the data collected for these trees from class to class so that lichen is being measured every semester.  Studying the lichen is very important to be aware of the air quality around the area, that is the purpose of this study.  Credit needs to be given to Beatrix Potter, a women from northwest England who was the first person in Britain who began to study lichens more closely and how they are like a fungus and an algae.  She painted them and noticed the similarities, so she began to study them once inspired by her paintings to begin her studies on how they are fungus and algae related.  Without her beginning the study of lichens, who knows if anyone would have ever started to study them and find out these things about them, like how they are related to air quality.  The pictures of my tree are posted on this blog.  I will have them labeled in it's respective cardinal direction.  You will notice that there is no lichen on my tree.  It was about ten paces away from the street, however, it was in the middle of a street.  Trees farther down the street in both directions had a lot of lichen on them, or more than my tree had, which was nothing.  Why do you think this is?  Well, as a class we were saying that it is due to more pollution that more lichen is present, say it makes sense that maybe when cars are stopped at the end of the street on both sides sitting idle at a stop sign that there is more pollution due to the idling of the cars?  That is very possible.  I hope this blog was helpful in describing how we completed the study, and also just how important lichen study is to air quality.

 

Here are the branches of my tree.  Notice how the branches branch out from the same points. 

 

North^

 

South^

 

East^

 

West^