National Geographic documentary: Chasing Ice. Huge glaciers that are the size of the tip of Manhattan,
about 5 miles long and 300 to 400 feet tall from the surface of the water are melting. Chapter 12 is about the coastal New Jersey and the rising waters that affect it. The lower 2/3 of New Jersey's 130 mile long coast is composed of sandy barrier islands. This system of coastal barriers minimizes the impacts of storms and winds, yet many have been altered or destroyed by the storms. These islands aren't meant to stay still, but more according to the wave action. For some reason though, people thought it would be smart to build multi-million dollar beachfront homes on these islands which are constantly moving. The government tried very hard (and spent lots of money) engineering structures to stop the erosion such as jetties, groins, or bullheads along the beach, but it is hard to stop nature from taking its course. This can be seen with the devastation of Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina over topped the barrier islands and drowned New Orleans and many communities all along the Gulf Coast. Not only do these storms affect our coast, but the rising of the water caused by the melting of the ice sheets. Which are happening all over the world. A large mass of ice melted right off a glacier in Iceland. National Geographic documentary, Chasing Ice showed huge glaciers melting off, some that are the size of the tip of Manhattan, about 5 miles long and 300 to 400 feet tall from the surface of the water, are melting. 0.34% of ice is being lost a year and it seems small, but in 200 years it will be gone and the sea level will have rose drastically. "It noted that 'spring is arriving earlier, summers are growing hotter, and winters are becoming warmer and less snowy.' Average temperatures across the northeastern United States have risen more than 1.5°F since 1970, with a 20 to 30 percent increase in winter precipitation" (218). Without the change in pollution and chemicals being emitted into our environment, the sea level is said to rise between 10 inches to 2 feet by the end of the 21st century. It is one huge cycle: as the earth heats, the ice melts, and the sea level rises destroying land and the sea heats us killing our marine species since the ice isn't there to reflect off the suns rays thus keeping the ocean cool. Our poor marine life is being affected by the heating water and the chemicals. Photochemical smog consisting of ozone, nitric, and sulfuric acid, all air pollutants would be deposited in the ocean and absorbed by all the creatures in the water. Not only does it harm them and destroy their ecosystem, but it also will harm the people on the shore who would eat these poisonous fish. Barnegat bay is one example of a body of water being affected by the chemicals which is causing nutrient loading. "Excessive levels of these nutrients stimulate the growth of algae, and as the algae grow, they block sunlight needed by the submerged aquatic vegetation of the bay. Then when the algae die and decay, they reduce the level of oxygen in the water, which can result in large fish kills. The inputs of these nutrients come from many sources, such as street runoff, leaking or failed septic systems, animal wastes, and fertilizer used in landscaping and agriculture. Today, most of the surplus nutrients in Barnegat Bay come from non-point sources such as lawn fertilizers, mainly through stream and river discharges and groundwater influx, although atmospheric deposition is also a major source, making up 39 percent of the nitrogen load dropping into the bay" (214).
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Chapter 11: Headwaters and Watersheds. In this chapter I read about the watersheds and headwater streams which support our rivers that in turn flow out into our oceans. Headwater steams are unique in their habitat for aquatic life and are also the most active sites for processing the organic matter from the watershed such as falling leaves. They naturally help break down material into fish food and reduce down stream transport which might choke streambeds. "Despite their biological importance, headwater streams are among the most threatened aquatic environments in the United States. Immediate threats to headwater streams by development include channelization, piping, and even complete elimination through agricultural irrigation, urbanization, ground- water withdrawal, and mining practices" (190). These threats to the headwater steams can cause more issues that one would think. One problem is that it destroys the habitat of the aquatic animals. Salamanders, as the example given in the chapter, are the first to respond to the harmful changes in their environment which includes pollutants and higher temperatures. Deforestation causes the salamanders to lose their coverage which rises the temperature of the water and when companies build over the streams for housing or farm land use, the pesticides and pollutants from humans kill off these poor animals. They also become easy prey targets out in the open human spaces and their population is declining world wide. Animals are a good indicator of when something is going wrong with our environment, especially the water. It is our job as the people who control majority of these factors to fix things. Deforestation, pollution, and pesticides, would exists without humans and their creations which is why we need to help our environment because it can only do so much to help itself. Not only do the animals struggle when the environment changes, but we make it harder for ourselves. When homes and such are built over these water sources which collect our rain water there is no longer a place for the rain water to go (especially if the city doesn't have a good sewage/drainage system), so now towns become flooded with all this water because the concrete can not replace the absorption of the soil and flow into the streams.
Wetlands and vernal pools are another feature to the watershed besides the headwaters lakes and rivers. Wetlands are basically the lining along the watershed and rivers. They filter waterborne contaminates such as phosphorus and toxic chemicals, act as a habitat for many wildlife, and lessen the impacts of flooding. "Yet despite the benefits provided by wetlands, the United States loses approximately sixty thousand acres of wetlands every year" (199). Species of the wetlands and vernal pools are becoming endangered and many have already gone through extinction. Amphibians are at a great risk and 4 species are listed as endangered by NJDEP. I love frogs and in New Jersey I would see them everywhere. My aunt and uncle live near wetlands and they have lots of patched of forestry around their neighborhood and I would catch frogs as a kid. Sometimes the poor little guys would find their way into the pool and I would save them because the chlorine would sometimes kill them if I didn't fish them out. One time we found a huge bullfrog and took him back to the wetlands near by. The point is that I love frogs and its a shame to see that "nearly 168 species are believed to have gone extinct and at least 2,469 (39 percent) have populations that are declining" (201). We truly need to do a better job at protecting our wildlife species and our environment because slowly, but surly we are killing it. Chapter 10: The Biotic Mosaic
New Jersey has a special section within the Division of Fish and Wildlife to deal with the Endangered and Nongame species. "Its mission is to actively conserve New Jersey's biological diversity by maontaining and enhancing endangered, threatened, and nongame wildlief populations within healthy, functioning ecosystems" (172). This can be hard as populations of people begin to pop up where animals are trying to live. Laws are put into place to protect these animals and their natural habitat. The timber rattlesnake is a species that is threatened by the building of new communities and the already endangered species can't afford to lose more. The scientists within this program did a study using a GPS tracker on 5 males and 4 females to determine the proper way to help these snakes and prevent deaths by motor vehicles as they can't adapt themselves to a local traffic pattern and cross the road safely. Using the information from their study, they created a settlement to protect the snakes from the newly developing communities. "This agreement allowed the completion of an unfinished portion of Georgia O’Keefe Way by directing the developer to build twelve-foot-wide box-type culverts under the road, which allowed both of the endangered snake species to pass through, minimizing mortalities by motor vehicles.5 Under this agreement, building lots with snake nesting areas in them were permanently protected through deed restrictions" (174). Snakes have a bad image, but they are still a part of our ecosystem and deserve a far chance at life. I personally don't like snakes just because I can't tell if they are dangerous or not and they can also swallow you whole. But the chances of that happening are very slim. The Bald Eagle is another species, only unique to North America, that went near extinct. The source of the danger that almost killed them was not from losing its home range to community building or even deforestation, but from pollution. DDT is a pesticide sprayed on lawns to kill off bugs, but when the wind picks up, it is carried through the breeze and into lakes and forests where animals call it home. DDT caused thinner eggshells, resulting in reproductive problems and death. not only that, but the contaminant traveled through the food web ending in their primary food, fish. This created for a dangerous situation for them and these poor birds were in serious danger of extinction. The Bald Eagle was the bird population that was hit the hardest by the contamination of DDT. "New Jersey’s Bald Eagle population was hit especially hard by eggshell thin- ning and loss of habitat, to the point that by the late 1980s there was just one active nest remaining in the state. We gained a second nest in 1988, however, and the population has been growing ever since thanks to the bird’s reintroduction to the state by NJDEP’s Endangered Species and Nongame Program" (175). Without this program we would most likly not see any more Bald Eagles. The hacking program consisted capturing birds to bread and hand raise, then release into the wild. 60 young Eagles were released over an 8 year period, increasing the nesting pairs. Biologists continued to monitor their progress and the Bald Eagles continue to thrive. With the various climate changes happening each year and the dangers that prove to exist against our plant and animal species, it is our job to monitor and help them when needed. New Jersey has various species of plant and animal life that have problems which are not yet dire, but need careful management in case they do become dire. One example of this is "NJDEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife houses many such programs that monitor and protect freshwater fish, marine and shellfisheries, fur-bearing animals, and even insects. Its goal is to maintain the state’s rich variety of fish and wildlife species at stable, healthy levels and to protect and enhance the many habitats on which they depend. The division runs many education programs to alert residents to the values inherent in our fish and wildlife and tries to foster positive human/wildlife coexistence. It also studies and maximizes the recreational and commercial use of fish and wildlife resources for future generations" (180). This is so important and beneficial especially as the years continue. Already, these animals are having trouble with people advocating for them, so it is our job as co inhabitants to help them live long healthy lives- regardless of the animal. If we don't keep an eye out for the animals and keep their population stable then that will be bad for us especially with the animals we consume. For example, there tends to be over fishing of certain marine life and if it continues at a steady rate we will run out of consumable species of fish. We can not help species all over the world, but in helping them locally in New Jersey it can affect the impacts globally. It needs to be a global ecological effort to ensure that some species don't go extinct. Pollution seems unrelated to the marien species for example, but that is not at all true. The more carbon emissions, the more the globe will warm and the sea will warm and some species cannot handle the additional heat. Or global warming could change the timing of the seasons. The last section mentions that for example, an earlier spring season "may interfere with the genetically precise timing of millions of migrating species. Birds may arrive late onto their nesting grounds only to find the abundance of insects or seeds they need for survival and reproduction dissipated" (186). This would be very dangerous for this species of bird as they would starve. We need to work together and take the problems seriously and work on them before they are too deep to fix. |
Gabriella Brycea Junior at Seton Hall University studying Elementary and Special education with Environmental Studies. Archives
April 2018
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