Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Huge Algae Bloom off Canada Triggered by Company's 'Fertilization' Experiment

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Miguel Llanos, NBC News
October 16, 2012
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/16/14487440-huge-algae-bloom-off-canada-triggered-by-companys-fertilization-experiment
 


Summary 


          In an effort to increase salmon population, the Haida Salmon Restoration Corp. dumped about 100 tons of iron ore into the Northern Pacific Ocean. This caused a massive algae bloom covering 3,800 square miles of ocean off the coast of British Columbia, off of which the salmon could feed. The Haida people, a tribe in British Columbia, endorsed the dumping in order to increase the salmon populations that they depend on. Planktos, a company wishing to experiment with iron dumping and algae blooms in order to reduce carbon in the atmosphere, also supported the effort. Depositing such high amounts of foreign substances into the ocean does not only damage the ecosystem, but also goes against international resolutions. This has created great controversy about ocean manipulation, with some scientists predicting effects like oxygen depletion in water and damaging of food webs. 
Chlorophyll concentration before the deposit.


Connection


Chlorophyll concentration after the deposit.
           This article is relevant to our unit on ecology, and reflects the effect of fertilizers on an ecosystem. When nutrients such as iron become available in aquatic ecosystems in unusually high amounts, unsuppressed populations of algae skyrocket as the carrying capacity of the ecosystem increases. The algae crowd out competitors and other species such as fish, and suck nutrients such as oxygen out of the water. The high concentration of algae at the surface also blocks light from reaching lower photic zone. As species begin to disappear from the area, the entire food web gets disrupted.

(Images from: http://inhabitat.com/rogue-geoengineering-experiment-creates-massive-algae-bloom-in-pacific-ocean/)
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 27, 2012 at 5:18 PM

    The article mentions that oxygen might be reduced at different depths in the water column. How would this affect the biodiversity of the ecosystem?

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    Replies
    1. AnonymousNovember 3, 2012 at 7:37 PM

      Good question Julian! Because heterotrophs require oxygen to carry out cellular respiration the carrying capacity lowers. This causes different species to die out because the ecosystem can no longer sustain the biodiversity present.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousOctober 28, 2012 at 3:29 PM

    Are there any efforts being made to control the algae boom? If yes, what are they? What would you do to limit the algae?

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    Replies
    1. AnonymousNovember 3, 2012 at 7:56 PM

      As of yet, there have not been any reported efforts of controlling the algae bloom. This could be partly due to the possible environmental issues of trying to control them. For example, one of the most effective ways to control algae blooms is to enhance existing predators, or introduce new ones. Much research about any possible adverse effects is needed before any introduction can occur, and cost and time effectiveness are certainly issues. However, with such a large scale amount of dumping, this algae bloom could last a long time due to the high levels of iron. Therefore, action may be needed before long-term or even permanent environmental damage is done. For this reason, I would control the algae bloom by introducing a natural predator.

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