how water pollution affects marine life

How water pollution affects marine life.

There are many different types of pollutants that cause water pollution, that affects birds, fish and other marine animals.

Organic matter such as sewage, dead vegetation, and runoff from fields and erosion from shorelines.

This organic matter in rivers, streams and other bodies of water and allows the growth of algae and other aquatic plant life to increase, resulting the oxygen in the water to be used up faster. When the oxygen levels fall, fish and other aquatic organisms have greater difficulty breathing and many do not survive.

Heavy metals from industrial processes.

These are toxic to marine life such as fish and shellfish, which affect the rest of the food chain. Therefore the whole animal communities can be badly affected by this pollutant.

Industrial waste contains many toxic compounds

It damages the health of aquatic animals and their predator. Some of these toxins affect the reproduction of marine life and therefore disrupting the community structure of an aquatic environment.

Microbial pollutants from sewage

It results in infectious diseases infecting aquatic life and terrestrial life through drinking water. This leads to a rise of deaths within an environment.

Sulfate particles from acid rain

It changes the pH of water to become more acidic, damageing the marine life in the rivers and lakes it contaminates. It increases the number of mortalities within an environment.

Suspended particles

They reduce the amount of sunlight passing through the water, disrupting the growth of plants and micro-organisms. This affects the rest of the aquatic community that relied on these organisms to survive.

Oil spills

The Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 caused the death of 250,000 sea birds, 2800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 250 bald eagles and numerous salmon eggs and plankton. It is approximately twenty years later and oil from this petroleum spill is still killing the area’s marine life.

Plastics and other man made materials

Fish, birds and other marine life can be entangled in these materials, becoming injured and eventually die. Otters, seals, large fish and birds may swallow large pieces of plastic material and tiny marine organisms may consume plastic that has been broken down into small pieces. This causes the digestive systems of these marine creatures to be damaged and death may happen.

Taken from

http://www.edubook.com/how-does-pollution-affect-wildlife/24215/

http://www.water-pollution.org.uk/environment.html