BIO 105 1st Edition Lecture 28Past Lecture (27)Importance of oceansBlue carbon: carbon that is locked up in marine life. Not bad.Sea grasses- Shallow green habitat- Supports 50% of world’s fisheries- C-sink (sequesters 30x more carbon than tropical rainforests, “blue carbon”)- Stabilizes coastlines (leaves are baffles)- What harms sea grass bedso Overgrowth (lack of grazing, also fertilizer runoff)o Sedimentso Shade- Sea grass blades grow long when aren’t chopped short. The shade bottom gets slimy andleaves decompose and slime increases.- Healthy sea grass is cropped short and supports many marine life.Back to sea turtles - They are grazers in sea grass pastures- Historic population is 91 milliono Consumed 45% of annual sea grass growth.o Transmits nutrients to annual food chain.- Modern population is less than 300,000o Consumes less than 0.1% of annual sea grass growth.o Uneaten sea grass buried in sediment.o Sea grass wasting diseaseo More sea turtles = more productivity, less dense.- Stranding: turtle washed up on beach. Most likely dead, or dying.- Causes of Moralityo Cold stunning – gets caught in cold currents, or bad weather. Natural causeo Increased intensity of storms. Natural causeo Sea level rise. Natural cause with human influenceo Garbage. Human cause. 4/5’s of garbage in ocean comes from the land.o Marketingo PollutionThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.o Beam armoring o Bycatch - What can you do?o Reduce disposable plasticso Recycleo Voteo Garbage pickups- Gill nets – “curtain of death” They catch anything that doesn’t fit in the nets.Shrimping – trawling destroys ocean floorsMangrove ecosystems – down by 50%, mostly ecosystems in tropical oceans. Freshwater ImpactsFreshwater ecosystems – Disrupted by pollution, pharmaceuticals (including antibiotics and hormone disruptors) and dams.Why wetlands are important?- Natural food control- Acts as natural filter for contaminants- Provide wildlife habitat*Humans are evolutionary force.Current Lecture (28)What are some solutions?- Regulation of industry- Reduction of demandsThe lost 50% of mangrove forests, not all due to shrimp farmingShrimp farming (mangrove ecosystem)- Helps with availability for shrimp- Highly-fertile coastal ecosystems (mostly in tropical places)- Popular shrimp in aquacultureo Brown shrimp, white shrimp, tiger shrimp. All compete for same resources and this creates problems for wild shrimp/ecosystem.Fisheries Collapse- NC oyster fisheries collapse ~100 years ago- Pre-colonial days, oyster filtered in Chesapeake Bay in approx. 3.3 days and now it’s 325 days.- Causes are from overuse of fertilizer, including nitrogen, not all from farms, but from people who want green grass year round.Fertilizer run off (Nitrogen)- Influx of nitrogen- Phytoplankton blooms, then dies and falls to the bottom of the ocean.- Bacteria population explodes on dead plankton- Bacteria use the oxygen needed by fish, crabs, clams- Anoxia (Without oxygen) or hypoxia (low levels of oxygen) results creating D2 etc. - Animals have different oxygen requirements - 1960’s – 49 D2- Now – 405 D2How to take actions- Rethink what a “great yard” should look like- Plants native species- Use organicWhat can you do to protect oceans?- Eat less seafood- Help with steam clean up projects- Don’t tolerate littering- Recycle- Reduce uses of plasticsWays to support biodiversity in NC- Buy locally grown, organic food- Philanthropy (e.g. volunteer, donate)- Buy a hunting or fishing license.Over the last 15 years, only 34 (.03) development projects were
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