Effects of Acid Deposition

By Kyle Gift

According to UMAC◦ Sulfur oxide and Nitrogen Oxide being released

into the atmosphere◦ Released due to the burning of fossil fuels◦ Form when a reaction with water vapor occurs◦ Sulfur oxide yields sulfuric acid (70%)◦ Nitrogen oxide yields nitric acid (30%)

The Formation

The effects of acid deposition can be seen in many waterways and are not limited to just one type. Lakes, streams, rivers, and wetlands are just a few types of aquatic habitats that have seen negative impacts due to acid deposition

The effects on these aquatic habitats inevitably effect the entire environment in which they reside. As National Geographic puts it “Some species can tolerate acidic waters better than others. However, in an interconnected ecosystem, what impacts some species eventually impacts many more throughout the food chain, including non-aquatic species such as birds.” Simply put it means if the aquatic species die off then the predators that feed on them will also see a decline in population because of sparser food sources.

Effects on Aquatic Life

Donald Bosso states in his article “Effects of Acid rain” that acid rain harms many aquatic environments because it changes the PH levels in the water. He points out that fish, aquatic invertebrates, and both aquatic and terrestrial plants are negatively impacted by the change in PH level. According to Bosso the terrestrial plants are effected because they may use the aquatic environment as part of their water source thus they to absorb the harmful acid compound.

Aquatic life Continued

Another factor that causes these aquatic environments to crumble is that due to the more acidic ph levels National Geographic states that this will cause the lakes and streams to absorb aluminum from the surrounding soil.

All of this ultimately leads to the drop in diversity in the environments because the aquatic wildlife cannot withstand the harsh environments and simply die off and those that can live in the harsher climate die off from lack of food.

Aquatic life Continued

Examples of this damage

Lake sin Ontario plagued by raisin ph levels that is begging to kill fishhttp://www.nature.com/news/2005/050810/full/news050808-10.html

http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/01320/acid%20rain/Images/acid%20rain/fish.jpg

http://www.pattayadailynews.com/en/2010/03/21/what-is-acid-rain/

http://www.epa.gov/bioiweb1/aquatic/airpoll.html

The primary organisms in forest habitats that are directly effected by acid deposition are the plants. And among those the many different species of trees are those that show the greatest change. However all the organisms are effected due to the changes that occur in the plants.

There are many changes that take place in the many different species of trees that lead to a slow but steady decrease in the population of the particular species. All however can be linked to acid deposition

Impact on Forest habitats

Acid deposition creates some noticeable differences in plants and especially in trees as well as some not so externally noticeable symptoms.

In all plants according to the Environmental Protection Agency acid rain can lead to the damaging of the leaves due to an erosion of the waxy coating that covers the leaves. Once this coating is dissolved they say that this results in the leaves being able to produce the necessary nutrients and in extent makes the tree more susceptible to diseases.

Symptoms of acid deposition

Harvey Babich, Devra Lee Davis, and Guenther Stotzky state in their article titled “ACID PRECIPITATION” that prolonged exposure also causes stunted growth in many plants as well as underdeveloped root systems.

The article “Acid Rain Impacts on Calcium Nutrition and Forest Health” the steadily decreasing number of red spruce is being discussed and the a key factor is brought out about the role acid deposition played in this decline. They state that calcium deficiencies that are caused by an access of aluminum in the soil, caused by acid deposition, limits the root intake and destroys the leaves ability to store calcium. They suggest that it is this that causes the trees to be more vulnerable to insects, and damage from freezing which would result in loss of foliage. This seems all to plausible and would explain the decreases.

Symptoms of acid deposition

Rita Putatunda gives a very simple explination of what happens to the soil as a result of acid rain. She says “acid rain seeps into the earth and poisons plants and trees by dissolving toxic substances in the soil, such as aluminum, which get absorbed by the roots. Acid rain also dissolves the beneficial minerals and nutrients in the soil, which are then washed away before the plants and trees have a chance of using them in order to grow.” To me this is a pretty simple explanation and is very precise and to the point.

However Harvey Babich, Devra Lee Davis, and Guenther Stotzky explore a much deeper explanation of what is happening. These authors explain that different soil types have different susceptibility levels and range from soils with high levels of clay in them which are able to cope with acid deposition quite well to podzolic soils which have little tolerance to acid rain.

Effects on the soil

According to Harvey Babich, Devra Lee Davis, and Guenther Stotzky acid rain accelerates the leaching of minerals that provide the plants with their needed nutrients. This loss means that the soil is much less fertile. Acid decomposition also leads to the release of heavy metals into the soil such as aluminum, nickel, lead, and magnesium which act as toxins to the plants and animals so if a plant that has some of these toxic materials in them are consumed by an animal that animal will face dire consequences.

Effects on soil

So far there is little to no evidence that many larger animals have been directly harmed by acid rain though they have been harmed in a more roundabout way. Fungi are also one of the organisms that are well suited to directly handle acid deposition and it seems that even by the indirect path fungi are relatively unaffected by acid deposition.

Harvey Babich, Devra Lee Davis, and Guenther Stotzky point out that microbes, especially those in soil and water, are heavily impacted by acid rain. These organisms mainly prove to be unable to handle the low ph levels that are caused by the acid deposition in their environments and it also inhibited their growth because it inhibited dinitrogen fixation which many microbes use to grow. This leads to a much slower decomposition rate thus lowering the available nutrients in the soil.

Other life effected by acid deposition

Examples of the effects on the forest.

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Japan_To_Offer_Aid_To_Monitor_Acid_Rain_And_Yellow_Sand_In_China_999.html

http://myecoproject.org/get-involved/pollution/acid-rain/

http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/biomes/biomes_northern_forest.html

I hope that this has given you a greater insight to just how badly acid rain can effect the environment. It was said by the EPA that acid rain could erode marble, limestone and even copper. With this kind of destructive force action must be taken to eliminate acid rain.

According to Michael Tennesen stricter emissions tests need to be implemented on both vehicles and plants. She also suggests that there needs to be laws restricting the amount of use of manure in more agriculture businesses due to the nitric oxide release that it produces. As of now the U. S. has some provisions to slow the spread of acid deposition we are still far behind that of some other nations such as Europe.

Prevention

Babich, Harvey, Devra Lee Davis, and Guenther Stotzky. "ACID PRECIPITATION." Environment 22.4 (1980): 6. GreenFILE. EBSCO. Web. 12 Oct. 2010.

xBosso, Donald. “Effects of Acid Rain.” Ezinearticles.com. n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2010. http://ezinearticles.com/?Effects-of-Acid-Rain&id=1004157

DeHayes, Donald H., et al. "Acid Rain Impacts on Calcium Nutrition and Forest Health." Bioscience 49.10 (1999): 789. GreenFILE. EBSCO. Web. 12 Oct. 2010.

n.p . Acid Rain. Environmental Protection Agency, 4 April, 2008. Web. 12 Oct. 2010. http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/index.html

References

xn.p . “Acid Rain: Effects Felt Through the Food Chain.” National Geographic. National Geographic, n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2010. http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/global-warming/acid-rain-overview/

xn.p . Environment Our Changing Planet. UMAC Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium, 2006-2010. Web. 12 Oct. 2010. http://www.umac.org/ocp/HowisAcidRainFormed/info.html

Putatunda, Rita. “Causes and Effects of Acid Rain.” Buzzle.com, n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2010. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/causes-and-effects-of-acid-rain.html

Tennesen, Michael. "Sour Showers." Scientific American 303.3 (2010): 23-24. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 27 Oct. 2010.

References continued