Unit 8: Aquatic & Terrestrial Pollution

point pollution

produced from a single, identifiable location

example of point pollution

smokestacks

non-point pollution

produced from a more diffused, broadly defined area

example of non-point pollution

urban runoff

BOD

biochemical oxygen demand

how does BOD affect fish populations

higher BOD leads to more pollution and less DO

DO

dissolved oxygen

how does DO affect fish populations

lower DO levels cause dead zones

effect on local streams of logging in a watershed

increased water temperature

how are macroinvertibrates an indicator species

live in an aquatic ecosystem for long enough to show the effects of pollutants

affected in an organism by endocrine disrupters

hormones

services that mangrove forests and wetlands provide

flood control, shoreline stabilization, storm protection, habitat and nursery, biodiversity

3 characteristics of POPs

don’t easily break down, can travel long distances, fat-soluble

bioaccumulation

increase in concentration of pollutant in an organism

biomagnification

increase in concentration of pollutant in a food chain/web

primary source that releases mercury into the environment

coal combustion

ways to reduce mercury pollution

use cleaner energy sources, reduce use of coal

primary source of pesticides

increased crop production

health effects of pesticides

kills many non-target organisms

primary treatment of sewage

grit chamber

tertiary treatment of wastewater

water is disinfected

ways dysentery is transmitted

untreated/raw sewage, water contaminated by sewage

ways cholera is transmitted

infected water/food

measure of the amount of suspended material in water

turbidity

human health issue linked to exposure to pollution released during incineration of plastic waste

asthma

how eutrophication leads to death of aquatic species

leads to dead zones, not enough oxygen in water to support life

how agriculture contributes to the formation of dead zones

runoff from fertilizer pollutes streams and leads to algal blooms

how urban areas contribute to the formation of dead zones

wastewater treatment facilities release nutrients into treated wastewater, causes it to overflow

how dead zones affect marine organisms

organisms die/are forced to migrate due to low DO levels in the water

why dead zones increase during the summer months

higher water temperature decreases concentration of DO

where the largest dead zone occurs

Gulf of Mexico

economic effects that dead zones have on local communities

decreased fishing/income for fishing industry, decrease in tourism/revenue