Calif. algae bloom killing bird, sealife

NF Reporter · 04-27-2007, 05:54 AM

AP - A bloom of ocean algae that produces a toxic acid has sickened and killed hundreds of birds, sea lions and dolphins in California, environmentalists said.

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waltky · 12-02-2007, 09:45 AM

Sounds like someone tried 'ocean fertilization'...

Iron In Oceans Not A Solution For Global Warming, Says Research
Thursday, November 29, 2007 - 25 of the world's top scientists write on the latest developments in space, medicine, biology,earth science, physics and neuroscience.

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Fertilizing the ocean with iron or other nutrients to cause large algal blooms, has been proposed as a possible solution to global warming because the growing algae absorb carbon dioxide but research performed at Stanford and Oregon State Universities and published in the Journal of Geophysical Research suggests that ocean fertilization may not be an effective method of reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. However, this process, which is analogous to adding fertilizer to a lawn to help the grass grow, only reduces carbon dioxide in the atmosphere if the carbon incorporated into the algae sinks to deeper waters. This process, which scientists call the “Biological Pump”, has been thought to be dependent on the abundance of algae in the top layers of the ocean. The more algae in a bloom, the more carbon is transported, or “pumped”, from the atmosphere to the deep ocean.

To test this theory, researchers compared the abundance of algae in the surface waters of the world’s oceans with the amount of carbon actually sinking to deep water. They found clear seasonal patterns in both algal abundance and carbon sinking rates. However, the relationship between the two was surprising: less carbon was transported to deep water during a summertime bloom than during the rest of the year. This analysis has never been done before and required designing specialized mathematical algorithms. “By jumping a mathematical hurdle we found a new globally synchronous signal,” said Dr. Lutz.

“This discovery is very surprising”, said lead author Dr. Michael Lutz, now at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. “If, during natural plankton blooms, less carbon actually sinks to deep water than during the rest of the year, then it suggests that the Biological Pump leaks. More material is recycled in shallow water and less sinks to depth, which makes sense if you consider how this ecosystem has evolved in a way to minimize loss”, said Lutz. “Ocean fertilization schemes, which resemble an artificial summer, may not remove as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as has been suggested because they ignore the natural processes revealed by this research.” This study closely follows a September Ocean Iron Fertilization symposium at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) attended by leading scientists, international lawyers, policy makers, and concerned representatives from government, business, academia and environmental organizations.

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waltky · 02-15-2008, 07:41 PM

Gonna have to stop dumpin' our garbage in the oceans...

Is Man Ruining the Oceans?
WASHINGTON Feb 14, 2008 - Researchers Compile New Map Showing How and Where People Affect Seas; New map shows pollution, fishing, temperature changes worldwide.

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Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop pristine, might be the lament of today's Ancient Mariner. Oceans cover more than 70 percent of the planet, and every single spot has been affected by people in some way. Researchers studying 17 different activities ranging from fishing to pollution compiled a new map showing how and where people have impacted the seas. The map was released at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston and published in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

"Our results show that when these and other individual impacts are summed up, the big picture looks much worse than I imagine most people expected. It was certainly a surprise to me," said lead author Ben Halpern, an assistant research scientist at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The areas most affected include the North Sea, the South and East China Seas, Caribbean Sea, the east coast of North America, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Bering Sea and parts of the western Pacific, the study found. It said the least affected areas are near the poles.

However, the researchers said it is likely that human activities will affect polar regions more and more as climate change warms those areas. Damage includes reductions in fish and sea animals as well as problems for coral reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves, rocky reefs and shelves and seamounts. "There were two things we didn't anticipate," Halpern said in a telephone interview. "Every single spot in the oceans was affected by at least one human activity ... we figured there'd be places people just hadn't gotten to yet." And "more than 40 percent is impacted by multiple different activities," he added. "The oceans are not in good shape." Yet Halpern did find room for hope.

More ABC News: Is Man Ruining the Oceans?

bizwiz · 02-15-2008, 10:00 PM

Man's garbage certainly has a huge effect on the pollution we are seeing in the seas, rivers and lakes. We should discipline ourselves not to throw stuff needlessly and recklessly in our water supply.

sunken · 02-16-2008, 05:36 PM

I agree. The water is home to thousands of species that have just as much right to live with a clean environment as humans. And it is in the human interest to do so, since we need fish, water and all to live. I don't why people throw garbage (or dump sewage) in the ocean.

bizwiz · 02-16-2008, 08:05 PM

I think governments all over the world should impose hefty fines for people who blatantly disregard throwing garbage into our water supplies. Most laws today are just slaps in the wrist.

waltky · 09-29-2008, 07:06 AM

Mebbe they could use it for biofuel...

It's pond scum, but algae could be green fuel
Sept. 28, 2008 : Cost-efficient process expected that would also curb warming emissions

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Set amid cornfields and cow pastures in eastern Holland is a shallow pool that is rapidly turning green with algae, harvested for animal feed, skin treatments, biodegradable plastics — and with increasing interest, biofuel. In a warehouse 120 miles southwest, a bioreactor of clear plastic tubes is producing algae in pressure-cooker fashion that its manufacturer hopes will one day power jet aircraft.

Experts say it will be years, maybe a decade, before this simplest of all plants can be efficiently processed for fuel. But when that day comes, it could go a long way toward easing the world's energy needs and responding to global warming. Algae is the slimy stuff that clouds your home aquarium and gets tangled in your feet in a lake or ocean. It can grow almost everywhere there is water and sunlight, and under the right conditions it can double its volume within hours. Scientists and industrialists agree that the potential is huge.

"This is the ultimate fast-growing organism," says Peter van den Dorpel, chief operating officer of AlgaeLink, which makes bioreactors for speeding reproduction. "Algae is lazy. It eats carbon dioxide and produces oxygen." It has no roots, no leaves, no shoots. "It grows so fast because it has nothing else to do. It just swims in the water." Farming algae doesn't require much space or good cropland, so it avoids the fuel-for-food dilemma that has plagued first and second generation biofuels like corn, rapeseed and palm oil. It can grow in fresh water, polluted water, sea water or farm runoff. It can purify a city's sewage while feeding on the nitrogen and phosphates in human waste.

Oil-content is high