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| This is an algal bloom off the coast of Maryland which help contribute to the formation of dead zones. |
The article I chose is called Ocean
Dead Zones are Getting Worse Globally Due to Climate Change and is dated
November 10th, 2014. It is mainly about how dead zones are progressively
increasing across the globe. These low hypoxic areas have doubled in frequency
every ten years since the 1960’s, according to Alteiri and Gedan of the
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Maryland. Altieri and Gedan write in a newspaper that is in Global Change Biology today. The opening statement of the article talks about how dead
zones will increase by the end of the century due to climate change. This was
stated by a few of the authors presented in my literature review.
This article is written by Sarah Zielinski.
She also mentions that dead zones can be created or become worse due to human
activities. She describes the whole process of how a dead zone is created. It
starts with runoff with the nutrients in it which feed an algal bloom.
These nutrients contain phosphorus or nitrogen which is what ignites these
algal blooms. When the organisms (algae) eventually die, they decompose which
sucks up the oxygen in the water causing a dramatic decrease in the oxygen
level in a body of water. Altieri and Gedan were a source brought up in the article
who say, “Climate change will drive expansion of dead
zones, and has likely contributed to the observed spread of dead zones over
recent decades". This statement agrees with what she Zielinski says about
dead zones.
This article focuses on the main causes that are thought to be by
scientists. Hence the title, climate change is what the author focuses on
but there are many other potential factors to the formation of dead zones. There
are solutions to this problem and one is brought up at the end of the article
and that is to reduce the nutrient pollution. If this is lessened, then there
will be less nitrogen and/or phosphorus for algal blooms to feed off of and there
will be less dead zones across the globe.
McLendon Russell. (2011). What is the gulf of mexico Dead Zone? Retrieved from http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/what-is-the-gulf-of-mexico-dead-zone
Zielinski, Sarah. (2014). Ocean Dead Zones are Getting Worse Globally Due to Climate Change. Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ocean-dead-zones-are-getting-worse-globally-due-climate-change-180953282/
This idea that causing algae to grow more rapidly and then dying off is actually counter intuitive to what I thought caused these dead zones. It makes sense in the context of your blog though because decomposition does take natural resources that could be needed more by the living organisms. This is an interesting concept, I look forward to both reading the article that you chose (when I have more time on my hands) and keeping up with your blog!
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ReplyDeleteI would like to know more about how creating a dead zone will also result in another birth of animals. Also you can more focus on how some regions get really hotter that many animals living in those regions have to move to the north. You described well details of consequences of decreasing amount of nitrogen and
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there is or will be a method to manually restore these dead zones with all the new technology we have now. If we keep damaging these zones, we will eventually run out of resources and human restoration will no longer be an option but a necessity. The fact is that dead zones represent a loss in resources for humans as well as loss in animal life. Hopefully people will change their attitudes towards nature since it is an important source for our survival.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is possible to change and repair the damage that has been caused by run off, pollution, and unawareness by human beings. However it is a behavioral problem, meaning that the attitudes and behaviors of people must change before we start making an impact to helping aquatic ecosystems make a full recovery. It is a lot harder than one would imagine, but it is still possible. We will need the government's help along with the help of the people to clean up dead zones and restore them to how they once were. It will happen one day!
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