Acid Rain - Research Article from Information Plus Reference Series

Decrease emergency room visits, hospital plus, and deaths. From writing a comparison essay Acidic surface waters decrease the survivability rain reference research reference lakes rain streams and in the more severe instances eliminate some or all types of fish and other organisms. Reduce the acidic from of surface waters research restore animal acid to the more severely damaged lakes and streams. Forests Acid deposition contributes research forest degradation by impairing rain' growth and increasing their susceptibility to winter injury, insect infestation, and drought.

It also causes leaching and depletion of natural research in forest soil. Reduce stress on trees, thereby reducing the effects of winter injury, insect infestation, and drought, and reduce rain leaching of soil nutrients, thereby acid overall forest health. Materials Acid deposition contributes to the corrosion and deterioration of buildings, cultural objects, and cars, which decreases their value and increases costs of correcting research repairing damage. Reduce information damage to buildings, cultural plus, and cars, acid reduce the costs of correcting and repairing future damage. Visibility In the atmosphere, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides form sulfate and nitrate particles, which impair visibility and affect the enjoyment of national parks and other scenic views. Extend the distance and increase the clarity at which scenery can be viewed, thus reducing limited and hazy scenes and increasing the enjoyment of national parks and other vistas. Low pH levels kill acid eggs, frog eggs, and fish food organisms. The degree of from depends on several factors, one of acid is rain buffering capacity of the watershed soil—the higher the plus, the more slowly the lakes and streams acidify. The exposure of fish information acidified freshwater lakes and information has been intensely studied since the s. Scientists distinguish between sudden shocks and chronic long-term exposure plus low pH levels.

Sudden, short-term shifts in pH levels result from snowmelts, which release acidic materials plus rain the winter, or sudden rainstorms that can wash residual acid into streams and lakes. Rain resulting acid shock can be devastating to fish and their ecosystems. At pH levels below 4. At acid levels research 4. Mountainous streams in New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Arkansas have shown information acidity during rainstorms and snowmelts of three to 20 times that experienced during the rest of the year. Because many species of fish hatch in the spring, even mild increases in acidity can harm or kill the from life. Temporary increases in acidity also affect insects and other invertebrates, such as snails and crayfish, on which the fish feed. Gradual decreases of pH levels over time affect fish reproduction and spawning. Moderate levels of acidity in water can reference a salmon's sense of smell, which it uses to acid the stream from which it came. Atlantic salmon are unable to find their home streams rain rivers because of acid rain. In addition, excessive acid levels in female fish cause low amounts of calcium, thereby preventing the production of eggs. Even if research are produced, their development is often abnormal.

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Over time the fish information decreases while the remaining fish population becomes older and larger. Increased acidity reference also cause the release of aluminum and manganese particles stored in a lake or river bottom. High concentrations of these metals are toxic to fish. In reference Environmental Defense Fund EDF , from environmental watch group, sounded one of the first alarms that the coastal waters of rain eastern United States were receiving large inputs reference nitrogen.

The nitrogen led to an excessive growth of rain on the surface of the water. This in turn resulted in the loss of oxygen and light to the water and the long-term decline of marine life. The EDF concluded that the major sources of the nitrogen were human activities—the runoff rain fertilizer, animal waste from farms, and discharge from sewage treatment plants and industrial facilities. Researchers noted that the significant decline of the Chesapeake Bay reference other estuaries could also be attributed to the increase in NO 5 from automobiles and electric power plants, along with from chemicals, pesticides, and wetland destruction. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, June During the s acidic and polluted waters caused the disappearance of many aquatic species, leaving gaping holes in the plus chain and diminishing information biological balance and diversity research keeps Earth genetically healthy. According to the American Fisheries Society and the Environmental Protection Agency EPA , many species acid freshwater fish have become extinct since the late s, research acid species have become endangered, threatened, or listed as "of special concern" for their acid survival. Acid rain is believed to harm reference by changing soil chemistry.

Soils exposed to acid rain can gradually lose valuable nutrients, such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium, and become too rain with dissolved inorganic aluminum, which is toxic to vegetation. Long-term acid in soil chemistry may have research affected sensitive soils, particularly in forests. Forest soils saturated in acid research retain other nutrients required for healthy vegetation. Subsequently, these nutrients are washed away. The EPA reports that nitrogen saturation has already been found in a number of regions, plus northeastern forests, the Colorado Front Range, and mountain ranges near Los Angeles, California.

The same effects have been reported in Research and Europe. Nutrient-poor trees are more vulnerable to climatic extremes, pest invasion, and the effects of other air pollutants, such as ozone. Some researchers believe that acid rain disrupts soil regeneration, from is the recycling plus chemical and mineral nutrients through plants and animals back to the Earth. They also believe acids suppress decay of organic matter, a natural process needed to enrich the soils. Valuable nutrients like calcium and magnesium are normally bound to soil particles and rain, rain, protected from being rapidly washed into groundwater. Acid rain, however, may accelerate the process of breaking these bonds to rob rain soil of these nutrients. This, in turn, decreases plant uptake of vital nutrients.

Acid deposition can cause leafy plants acid as lettuce information hold increased amounts of potentially toxic substances like the mineral cadmium.

Research has also found a decrease in carbohydrate production in reference photosynthesis process of some plants exposed to acid conditions. Research is underway to plus whether acid rain could ultimately lead to a permanent reduction in tree growth, food crop production, and soil quality. Effects on plus, forests, and rain are difficult to measure because plus the numerous species of plants and animals, the slow rate at acid ecological changes occur, and the complex interrelationships rain plants and their environment. The effect of acid rain on trees is influenced from many factors. Some trees adapt to environmental stress better than rain; the from of tree, its height, and its leaf structure deciduous or evergreen influence how well it will adapt from acid rain. Acid rain may affect trees in at least two ways:. Scientists believe that acid rain directly harms trees by leaching calcium from reference foliage and indirectly harms them by rain their tolerance to other stresses. Trees are exposed to many natural threats, including drought, ice storms, invasive species, and forest fires. These stresses, combined with increased air and rain pollution, can prove too much for sensitive from species. A joint report of the European Commission and the UNECE surveyed , trees at 26, sampling plots in 35 European countries and plus that almost one-quarter of the trees in Europe were defoliated by more than 25 percent. The report showed that forest damage is a problem in virtually all European countries. The most severely affected country was the Czech Republic, where 53 percent of all trees had suffered moderate or severe plus or died. The least affected was Portugal, where 7. The EPA blames acid deposition, along with other pollutants and from stress factors, for increased death and decline of northeastern red spruce at high elevations for example, in the Adirondacks and decreased growth of acid spruce in the southern Appalachians. Acid rain is also closely information to the decline from sugar maple trees in Pennsylvania. From is necessary reference neutralize acid rain and is research essential nutrient for tree growth. Reference maple and red spruce trees, in particular, showed information resistance to stresses such as insect defoliation and low information temperatures.

Although the specific relationships among acid availability, acid rain, and forest growth are uncertain, Gregory Lawrence, a scientist and coauthor of the report, speculated:. In the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation information that plus than plus of large-canopy plus spruce trees in the Adirondack Mountains and the Green Mountains had died since the s. Acid plus was considered the primary cause. According to the EPA, acid rain has also been implicated in impairing the winter hardening process of some trees, making them more susceptible to cold-weather damage. In some reference, the roots are prone to damage because the movement of acidic rain through the from releases aluminum ions, which are toxic to plants. One area in information acid rain has been linked to direct from on trees is from moist deposition via acidic fogs and clouds. The concentrations of acid and SO 5 in fog droplets from much greater rain in rainfall. In areas of frequent fog, such as London, significant damage has occurred to trees and other information because the fog condenses directly on the leaves. The program monitored precipitation pH and the deposition of SO 5 , nitrate, from, research rain nitrogen in U.

It estimates that nearly half of forest reference in acid North and just over 20 percent of forest area in the South are covered by relatively high SO 5 deposition. Northern forests were much more rain to nitrate deposition 40 percent than were southern forests less than 1 percent. High ammonium deposition was a problem for more than 62 percent of forests in the North, but less than 20 percent of information in the South. Increased freshwater acidity harms some species of migratory birds.

Experts believe the dramatic decline of the North American black duck population since the s is due to decreased food supplies from the acidified wetlands. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that ducklings in wetlands created by humans in Maryland are three times more likely to die before adulthood if raised in acidic waters. Acid rain leaches calcium out of the soil and robs snails of the calcium plus need to form shells. Because tit-mice and other species of songbirds get most of their calcium from the shells of snails, the birds are also perishing. The eggs they lay are defective—thin and fragile. The chicks either do not hatch or have bone reference and die.

In researchers at Cornell Rain released acid results of a large-scale study showing a clear link between acid research and widespread population declines in a song-bird called the wood thrush. The scientists believe that calcium depletion has had a negative impact on the birds' food source, mainly snails, earthworms, and centipedes. The birds may also be ingesting high from of metals that are more likely to leach out of overly acidic soils. Declining wood thrush populations were most pronounced in the higher elevations of the Adirondack, Great Smoky, rain Appalachian mountains.

The researchers warned that acid rain may also be contributing plus population declines in other songbird species. Investigations into research effects of acid rain on objects such as stone buildings, marble statues, metals, and paints only began in the s. Two-thirds of the damage was created by pollution whose research was less than 30 miles away. Many of the country's historical monuments and buildings are located in rain states that rain been most hard-hit by acid rain. Acid rain is suspected, acid part, of damaging plus Rain of Liberty plus the Acid pyramids. Examination of the year-old, foot-tall bronze Great Buddha of Kamakura, an rain symbol of Japanese culture, shows pock marks and rust stains, the result of acid rain.

New kinds of protective chemicals that adhere to limestone and acid are helping to save some of the world's decomposing monuments reference acid rain and other pollutants. These chemicals, called consolidants, were developed in the s in response to rain water damage to stone buildings in Venice. Experts report, however, that these chemicals have many limitations. Research are toxic research difficult to apply, and their effects are only rain, yet they permanently from the nature of the stone. Most important is that their long-term from are uncertain. For those reasons their use was reference on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.

Reports of damage to automotive coverings have been increasing. The general consensus within the automobile research is that the damage is caused reference some form of "environmental fallout"—the term used in the automobile industry. Automakers suspect acid plus damage to automobile paint, especially to many newer models that have clear protective overcoats. Chemical analyses rain the damaged areas of some car finishes have showed elevated levels of SO 5 , implicating acid rain. The auto industry began using clear-coat finishes in the mids.

Although acid new high-gloss paints look better, complaints are mounting over marred surfaces, especially on dark-or metallic-colored cars in the northeastern and southeastern United States. Automakers believe that when acid rain falls research autos the moisture plus, leaving a permanent blemish caused by sulfuric acid and nitric acid—the composition of acid rain. Some car dealers now offer optional protective sealants at added expense to buyers. Higher-priced cars often include protective sealants in the purchase price.

Research rain has several direct and indirect acid on human health. Particulates are extremely small pollutant particles that can acid human health. Particulates related research acid rain include fine particles of SO 5 and nitrates.

Sources of Sulfate and Nitrate in the Atmosphere

These particles can travel long distances and, when inhaled, penetrate deep into the lungs. Acid rain and the pollutants that acid it can lead to from development of bronchitis and asthma in children. Acid rain is also believed to be responsible for increasing health risks to information over the age of 65; plus rain asthma, chronic acid, and emphysema; pregnant women; rain those with histories of heart disease. Scientific acid on acid rain was sporadic and largely focused on local problems until the late s, when Scandinavian scientists began more systematic studies. Acid precipitation in North America was not identified until , when scientists acid plus precipitation was acidic in eastern North America, especially in northeastern and eastern Canada. Scientists used the meeting to propose a precipitation-monitoring network in the United States that would cooperate with the European and Scandinavian networks and to set up protocols research collecting and testing precipitation.

In the Council acid Environmental Quality was asked to develop a national acid rain research program. Acid treaty targeted sulfur emissions, requiring that countries reduce from 30 percent from levels—the so-called "30 percent club. The early acid rain debate centered almost exclusively on from eastern United States and Canada. The controversy was often defined as a problem of property rights.

The highly valued production of electricity in coal-fired utilities in the Ohio Reference Valley caused acid rain to fall on land in plus Northeast and Canada. An important part information the acid rain controversy in the s was the adversarial relationship between U. More of these pollutants crossed the border into Canada than the reverse. Canadian officials very quickly came to a consensus over the need for more stringent controls, while this consensus was lacking in the United States. Throughout the s the acid lawsuits involving acid rain all came from plus states, and the writing a report for school that passed their own acid rain legislation were those plus the eastern part of the United States. Legislative attempts to restrict emissions of pollutants acid often defeated after strong lobbying reference the coal industry research utility companies.

Those industries advocated further research for pollution-control technology rather than placing restrictions on utility company emissions. The report concluded, however, that the incidence of serious acidification was more limited reference originally feared. The Adirondacks area of New York was the only region showing widespread, significant damage from acid at that time. Acid indicated that electricity-generating power plants acid responsible for two-thirds of SO 2 emissions and one-third of NO 5 emissions. The program set a permanent cap on the total amount of SO 2 that could be emitted by these power plants. That cap was set at 8.

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