1. The Health of Our Ocean& Pollution

2. The Health of our Ocean & Pollution
Things that affect the Health of our Ocean
Non Native Species- Organisms that out compete native species for resources or have no natural predators.
Also called “invasive species”
Over fishing- excessive harvesting of fish
Causes disruption in the food web locally as well as globally
Is unsustainable

3. Protecting our Resources
Unsustainable methods of fishing
Long lines, explosives, purse seine, etc.
Depletes populations by catching fish who are not reproductively mature or;
Harvesting at a rate that fish cannot replenish their population by the next season.
By-Catch- Things that were never meant to be caught for food, but were.
Sea turtles, dolphins, whales, etc.

4. The Health of our Ocean & Pollution
Habitat Destruction
Wetlands are destroyed to allow building near the coast.
Disrupts ecosystem by removing the nursery many fish rely on for their offspring
Mismanaged land can lead to sediment transport filling wetlands.
Coral Reef Destruction
Reduces biodiversity effectively creating an unstable ecosystem.

5. Pollution
-Products with harmful effects on water quality or the balance of an ecosystem
Pollutants can be chemical, physical or biological.

6. Pollution
Gets into ocean by leaking landfills, dumps, mines, and farms
Settle into sea-floor sediments
Biodegradable pollutants are broken down through natural processes relatively easy
Toxic- Pollutants that are poisonous to the organisms
Slowly degradable or non-biodegradable
Heavy Metals (most deadly is lead)
Typically persistant (long lasting in the environment)
Get transferred through the food web through Biological Magnification

7. Levels of organic pollutants may be low, but biological magnification concentrates harmful toxins

8. Pollution Oil & Petroleum Products
About half of oil pollution in ocean is from natural seeps
Consumers are second highest contributor
Even low concentrations can cause catastrophic damage to ecosystems.

9. Agricultural Pollution
Chemical pesticides (excess)
Fertilizers (excess)
Leads to Eutrophication
Harmful Algal Blooms
Hypoxic (low oxygen) then eventially anoxic (no oxygen) conditions

10. Sewage Sewage- Liquid wastewater that is dumped into the oceans
Mostly treated, but some waste gets by the treatment plants
Organic wastes
Nutrients
Promotes disease-causing bacteria and parasites to proliferate

11. Marine Debris Solid wastes that end up in the ocean. Plastics
Starvation- Sea turtles think plastic bags are food
Lost Fishing Gear
Drowning
Strangulation

12. Pollution Point Source Pollution Non-Point Source Pollution
Type of pollution in which you can track to a single outlet or source
Oil Pollution
Most from non-accidental sources
Non-Point Source Pollution
Type of pollution in which you cannot track to any single outlet or source
Common in run-off
Marine debris

13. Global Warming As ocean temperatures increase: Upwellings decrease
Algal Blooms Increase
Coral Reefs Die
ETC.

14. Watersheds

15. What is a watershed?

16. A watershed is an area of land from which water drains into a specific body of water.
Water from rain or snow melts and drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, dam, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean.
Also known as a drainage basin.

17. Acts like a funnel- collecting all the water within the area covered by the basin and channeling it into a waterway.
Drainage basins are separated by ridges, hills, or mountains.

19. Major Watersheds of the World

20. There are numerous watersheds throughout the world.

21. Gulf of Mexico Watershed
Five countries are a part of the watershed
United States of America
Mexico
Cuba
Canada
Guatemala

23. Guatemala drains in through Mexico into the southern Gulf.
Canada drains through the Missouri-Mississippi River system into the northern part of the Gulf.

24. Endorheic drainage basins

25. Inland basins that do not drain into an ocean
18% of all land drains to endorheic lakes or seas.
Largest consists of much of the interior of Asia, which drains into the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea
The U.S. has a endorheic basin called the “Great Basin”

27. Importance of Drainage Basins

28. As water flows over the ground along rivers it can pick up nutrients, sediment, and pollutants.
These get transported toward the outlet of the basin and can affect the ecological processes along the way as well as in the receiving water source.

29. Use of agricultural fertilizers, which contain nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, affects the mouths of watersheds by disturbing the mineral balance.
Can encourage algal blooms because of increased nutrients.