1. Introduction to Marine Environmental Issues Natural and Man-made Marine Pollutants Impact of Disturbed Habitats on Organisms Prosperity Human Activity and Global Oceanic Change Chapter 18: The Ocean and The Environment

2. Human Impact on the world Ocean: 17 data sets: shipping, fishing, pollution, invasive species, temperature change, UV light changes, and ocean acidification human consumption exceeds Earth’s natural replacement capacity by at least 20%

3. Marine Pollutants: Natural & Human-Generated Marine pollution is the introduction into the ocean by humans of substances or energy that changes the quality of the water or affects the physical, chemical, or biological environment. Impacts may be acute or chronic Organism response will depend on sensitivity to the combination of quantity and toxicity of the pollutant Pollutants also vary in their persistence (oil spills, long term atmospheric changes etc.)

4. Oil Natural Oil seeps ~= anthropogenic input Remediation/cleanup techniques are often more environmentally damaging Average Annual Releases of Petroleum (1990-1999) Thousands of Metric Tons/yr

5. Chlorinated hydrocarbons (pesticides, solvents) DDT NY (women of childbearing age should limit intake of bluefish) Biological Amplification: concentration builds up the trophic levels Heavy Metals: toxic in small quantities, mercury, lead, copper, tin Minamata disease (ingestion of mercury rich shellfish: kidney damage, neuromuscular deterioration, birth defects, insanity and death) Synthetic Organic Chemicals & Heavy Metals

6. Eutrophication: a set of physical, chemical and biological changes that take place when excessive nutrients are released into the water (CSOs, runoff after heavy rains (fertilizer)) Hypoxia: low dissolved oxygen levels (decomposition of algae/plankton after a bloom consumes oxygen) Eutrophication and Hypoxia Little Gasparrilla Island, FL Hypoxic water invades the Gulf of Mexico

9. Plastics: Trash Islands

10. Invasive Species: Travel in ship ballast water Outcompete native species Phragmites

11. Coral Bleaching During warm temperatures: corals expel the zooxanthellae (symbiotic dinoflagellates) from their tissue Caribbean and tropical Pacific have shown sensitivity of 1 o C (1.8 o F) above normal summer high temperatures

12. Ocean Acidification Could be more threatening to biology of this planet than global warming pH has fallen 0.025 units since 1990 pH has fallen.1 units since pre-industrial era Global average of 7.7 by 2100 Calcifiers will be most sensative

13. Dobson Unit: is a measure of the total ozone in a column of air from surface to space, baseline value is 220. Ozone

14. Antarctic Ozone hole permits more UV radiation to reach the ocean 1990 Observations: 6-12% drop in phytoplankton productivity in the region influenced by the hole which lasted 10-12 weeks Levels will be lowest (worst) between 2010 and 2019 Recovery to pre-1980 levels by 2055

15. Ocean Warming Greatest changes at mid-high latitudes Thermal expansion, rising sea levels Decrease in dissolved gasses Anomalies relative to long-term average Species migration