Back in the 1980s when acid rain was a big concern, the problem was
primarily with poorly buffered lakes. Lakes with lots of limestone, and
the ocean were not affected by the acid rain because they could buffer the
hydrogen ions. After the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990, the SO2 was
reduced and lakes began to recover.
Now, we are confronted with CO2 rather than SO2 or NOx and the CO2
overcomes the ocean's ability to buffer and the ocean's pH is dropping and
shell-building organisms are affected. The CO2 should be having the same
(or worse) effects in lakes, but we (at least I) hear nothing about
problems of acidification in fresh water systems. Why is that? Am I
missing some scientific point here or am I missing news? Or what?
.·'¯`·.¸ ><((((o> .·'¯`·.¸¸.·'¯`·.¸ >=}}}}}},/o>
><((((o> ><((((o>
1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea" W.S. Gilbert
1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, and
pollution.
2000's: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction
MAY help restore populations.
Dr. Judith S. Weis
Dept. of Biological Sciences
Rutgers University
Newark NJ 07102
Phone 973 353-5387 FAX 973 353-5518
http://runewarkbiology.rutgers.edu/weis%20lab/Home.html
