Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Marine Ecosystem Causes of Degradation and Case Studywhat...

What is the Marine Ecosystem? Marine ecosystems are among the largest of Earths aquatic ecosystems. It covers almost 70% of the earth’s surface. They include oceans, salt marsh and intertidal ecology, estuaries and lagoons, mangroves and coral reefs, the deep sea and the sea floor. They can be contrasted with freshwater ecosystems, which have a lower salt content. Why is the Marine Ecosystem important? Marine ecosystems are very important in to the overall health of both marine and terrestrial environments. According to the World Resources Centre, coastal habitats alone account for approximately 1/3 of all marine biological productivity, and estuarine ecosystems (i.e., salt marshes, sea grasses, mangrove forests) are among the most†¦show more content†¦This can weaken the coral and reduces the oxygen present in the water. A lot of fish also feed on the algae and plankton which also start dying because of lack of food. The pacific garbage patch Hidden, tucked away in no-man’s land between Hawaii and San Francisco lies a â€Å"floating continent† composed entirely of garbage. This environmentalist’s nightmare is at a staggering size twice the size of Texas. It is around 1400000 km ², consisting of mostly plastic and other waste matter, and is the largest landfill in the world. There is roughly 3,340,000 pieces of rubbish/km ² with an average mass of 5.1kg/km ². It has numerous names like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the Eastern Garbage Patch or the Pacific Trash Vortex. Some experts believe that the â€Å"floating continent† actually consists of two patches, Eastern and Western connected by a thin 6000km current called the Subtropical Convergence Zone which itself consists of a strip of rubbish. Waste that can float from all present day civilizations eventually end up at this â€Å"island†, sometimes after periods of up to 12 years. Many animals such as sea birds, turtles jellyfish mistakenly get tangled in the debris, eat the refuse or in the case of Hawaiian Green Turtles, nest there. For example, the amount of all refuse Albatross feed their chicks with is total of 5 tons of plastic a year. On several occasions, some rubbish breaks free and ends up getting washed up on the beaches of nearby Hawaiian

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