The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The amount of waste in the world’s oceans has been surging in the past century, and the problem continues to get worse. It is at the point where there are areas of the ocean where trash outnumbers sea life (including plankton). These areas of the ocean are known as trash swills. There are a number of them on Earth, and each of Earth’s oceans contains at least one. The greatest of all of these trash swills is commonly known as the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch.’ It is also known as the ‘Plastic Continent.’

The ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ is located in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and California. It is roughly 1,000 miles off of the coast of California. Trash from Japan, the United States, Mexico and various other countries are caught in the ocean’s currents and eventually wind up in the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone. Some of this trash breaks into pieces, eventually comes free and floats away, sinks to the ocean floor or floats on or below the surface.

It is difficult to determine the size of this mass of plastic and trash for various reasons. Firstly, the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ does not stay still. The collection of plastic and trash is also amorphous, so getting a precise measurement would take some doing. There is also the fact that not all of the trash is on the surface. To get a correct measurement of its size, one would have to measure its depth as well, which is no simple task. Estimates regarding the size of the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ have ranged from the size of Texas to one and a half times the size of the United States.

Eighty percent of the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ is recyclable plastic material. It’s no wonder some people have taken to calling it the ‘Plastic Continent.’ There is also no feasible way of removing it and recycling it. The ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ is getting larger with no end in sight. And this is only the tip of the iceberg of the world’s plastic problem. Just imagine how much of it is sitting around on this planet, not being recycled and endangering wildlife. When you take into account the fact that plastic has only been mass-produced for the past sixty years or so, it is easy to imagine that our oceans may be literally clogged with plastic in the foreseeable future.

The amount of plastic compared to the amount of sea life in the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ is 6:1. Researchers have been discovering all kinds of sea life, including marine birds, with pieces of plastic from the swill in their stomachs. Some accounts have made it seem as if researchers would be hard pressed to find an animal in that area without some plastic in its stomach. The plastic breaks down into smaller pieces and begins to look like food to the animals. They can also become entangled in or otherwise inhibited by the debris. This can be a major problem if it stops the animal from being able to move or eat.

At this time, attempts are being made to study the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch.’ However, nothing is being done about it and there may be nothing that can be done about it. No country is going to claim responsibility for the waste and end up footing a bill that could probably reach the billions. There is also the question of how all of that floating trash could possibly be collected and where would we put it? It has been estimated that the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ contains roughly 3.5 million tons of trash.

Update: Research into the impact of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and how to clean it up is currently ongoing. There is no doubt that the task will be monumental.

Sources

Randille, Michelle, Great Pacific Garbage Patch, retrieved 12/16/09, discovery.com/news/2009/08/28/pacific-garbage.html

Think Beyond Plastic, Garbage Patch, retrieved 12/16/09, greatgarbagepatch.org/index.html

De-mystifying the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” or “Trash Vortex,” retrieved 12/16/09, marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html#3

Yellowstone's Morning Glory Pool

The pool has barely retained its blue color.
Photo by Miguel Hermoso Cuesta

Yellowstone National Park is home to some of the most amazing natural sights in the world, not least of which is the Morning Glory Pool. The Morning Glory Pool is a hot spring that attracts quite a few visitors. It is known for its vibrant color.  However, much of that has diminished over the past decades. Nonetheless, the pool is still stunning to behold. The change in the pool’s color is also very interesting in that it gives us a first hand look at the effect that pollution can have on the world that surrounds us.

The Morning Glory Pool is located on the northern edge of the Upper Geyser Basin. It was named in 1883 for its magnificently deep blue color that nearly matched the flower for which it was named.

This pool is roughly 23 feet by 26 feet and is about 23 feet deep. Currently, the temperature of the water in the Morning Glory Pool is around 171.6 degrees Fahrenheit. The water is clear enough that you can see the way that the sides taper down into its depths. Viewed from some angles, this gives the illusion that the pool is in fact running down into the center. This also makes the pool seem as if it has a “stem,” which makes its name that much more appropriate.

Unfortunately, the pool has changed color over the years because of the acts of uncaring or unwitting visitors. Tons (yes, tons) of trash have been thrown into the pool, effectively blocking the vents that keep the pool so hot. Thermophilic bacteria that need high temperatures to survive cause the blue color of the pool.

When the vents became blocked by trash, the temperature in the pool started to drop, thus killing some of these bacteria. The drop in temperature also made it possible for other bacteria to thrive in the Morning Glory Pool. These new bacteria are red, yellow and orange and are changing the pool’s color from the outside in. As the pool gets cooler, the new bacteria move closer to its center. Given enough time, the entire pool could change if the vents do not get opened back up.

An old road used to go directly by the Morning Glory Pool, so there were many more visitors to it in the past. Today that road is gone. Visitors must walk or bicycle for 1.5 miles both ways to get to the pool; a three-mile trip total. This means fewer visitors and fewer opportunities to steal pieces of the edge of the pool or throw trash into its depths.

Because the Morning Glory Pool is a geyser it is hoped that it will one day blow the trash loose and thus remove the blockage from its thermal vents. However, whether it will do so or not is uncertain, especially with the amount of trash that is in it. For now, we can only hope that some effort on our part or some natural occurrence will return the pool to its original, magnificent state.

Rabbits Are Destroying Natural Habitats in Australia

Wild rabbit
Courtesy of John Loo

Australia has been home to one of the world's most destructive invasive species for more than a century–rabbits. Rabbits can annihilate plant species while causing soil erosion that drives native species out of their habitats. They eat a lot and reproduce prolifically, making them a major problem for Australia.

In 1859, 24 European rabbits were released into the wild in Australia for sport hunting. In only 67 years, their numbers increased to an estimated 10 billion. Rabbits propagate their species quite aggressively. Female rabbits can birth up to five litters, each containing 4-7 offspring annually. This means that it would take a single breeding pair of rabbits 1.5 years to increase the population by 182 rabbits. The consequences of this hyper-breeding is seen everywhere there are rabbits.

Rabbits are burrowing mammals. When their population gets out of control, this burrowing behavior damages the soil and causes soil erosion. They also have a habit of stealing burrows from other burrowing mammals, when they don't have enough to support their population. They are not only stealing the homes of these creatures, but they are making the land incapable of supporting these creatures in the future.

Another aspect of local eco-systems that rabbits destroy is the food supply, which is actually another cause of soil erosion. Studies show that it takes only two rabbits on one hectare of land to keep the plants on that land from growing. They are solely responsible for the near destruction of Hibiscus insutaris, a local plant. Rabbits are also guilty of a habit called ringbark. They use their teeth to remove the bark of trees in a ring around them. This effectively kills the tree. They also eat the little saplings, which keeps the trees from coming back. Other animals find it difficult to compete with the rabbits for food. Roughly 1/8 of all of the mammal species in Australia have been eradicated as a result of rabbit infestation.

All of this destruction is costing the Australian government hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Because of this and the destruction of native species, several attempts have been made to wipe out the rabbit population in Australia. (Animal lovers will not like their methods, but there is no denying that something needs to be done before more animals are made extinct because of this invasive species.) In 1950, the rabbits were given the myxomatosis virus in an attempt to reduce the population. It worked. Nearly 100% of all rabbits in Australia were killed. However, some of the rabbits became immune to the virus and the population became problematic again within a few decades. In the mid to late 90s the method was tried again with a new virus. This virus kills millions of the rabbits annually, but this is still not enough.

There are currently hundreds of millions of rabbits in Australia. This may not be as bad as the billions that once were, but if efforts to reduce the population cease for even a few years, billions of rabbits would appear again. It is a constant job to keep these rabbits in check and there is no end is sight.

Sources

Invasive Animals CRC, Rabbits, retrieved 3/15/10, invasiveanimals.com/invasive-animals/rabbits/index.html

The Effects of Rabbits on the Australian Environment, library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00128/en/rabbits/effect.htm

Animal Planet, Weird True and Freaky, Outback Rabbit Invasion

The Atlantic Garbage Patch: A Trash Vortex in the Ocean

Trash Litter on a Beach in Malaysia

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a relatively familiar problem for some people. They have heard of the huge trash swill that pollutes the northern Pacific Ocean. The trash swill that is so large that it is sometimes referred to as a "continent of garbage." This disgusting swirling mass of plastic and other waste has received some attention in the past few years. Now, a second, similar oceanic garbage patch is gaining some attention. That is the Atlantic Garbage Patch.

The Atlantic Garbage Patch is located in the northern Atlantic Ocean. We know that it is large–much larger than it should be. However, it is hard to determine just how big it is. Like its Pacific counterpart, it is amorphous, making it hard to measure. It is also hard to measure just how much plastic is there. It is much denser in some areas than in others. There is no telling which garbage patch is the larger of the two, at this point.

Millions, if not billions, of tiny pieces of plastic make up the bulk of the Atlantic Garbage Patch. These pieces are so small that they are easily mistaken for krill and plankton by larger fish. In fact, in the Pacific Garbage Patch, the plastic bits outnumber the plankton that feed the larger fish. It is unclear if the plastic is that dense in the Atlantic Garbage Patch. The densest area yet discovered in the Atlantic Garbage Patch by students with the Sea Education Association is 520,000 pieces per square mile. That is roughly half the density of the densest measured area of the Pacific Garbage Patch.

Plastic tends to float in seawater. The plastic in the Atlantic Garbage Patch is no exception. It bobs on or near the surface. It is a floating mass of plastic, as opposed to a solid mass. Ships can sail right through it and animals can swim through it, which probably is not a good thing. In the Atlantic Garbage Patch, most of the trash is small pieces of plastic that have been broken down. In the Pacific, plastic such as visibly whole plastic bags and plastic 6-pack rings can be seen floating beneath the surface. This poses many risks to wildlife.

It is interesting to note that researchers have concluded that the Atlantic Garbage Patch has not grown in the past 22 years. This may seem like a good thing, but it is not. Plastic use has increased exponentially in the past several years. It follows that much more plastic would be finding its way into the Atlantic Garbage Patch. If the researchers are right then the plastic is either sinking or breaking down into such small pieces that it could never be recovered, if the effort was ever made.

Source

Lovett, Richard A., Huge Garbage Patch Found in Atlantic Too, retrieved 9/4/10, news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/03/100302-new-ocean-trash-garbage-patch

Cloud Forests: Endangered Habitat

Bella Vista Cloud Forest Reserve
Photo by JDPEcuador

Cloud forests are some of the most magical looking environments on Earth. Their beauty is the first and most noticeable thing about them. However, beyond the layers of mist and cloud that often blanket the trees of these forests, there is much more to be seen. There is beauty in the life of these forests and the life they provide to the organisms in and around them. Unfortunately, we may not have them to enjoy for much longer.

Cloud forests are mountain forests that exist in tropical and sub-tropical climates. They appear at altitudes between 1,600 and 10,000 feet, with the lower cloud forests appearing on mountainous islands in the ocean. The trees within these forests are 50 feet or more in the lower altitudes. Cloud forests in higher altitudes have shorter trees.

One of the most important and interesting things about cloud forests is the water that they use and produce. The forests actually collect the water from the mists and clouds that hover and move through their trees. This water is then taken into the forest and provided to local life - even humans. The La Tigra cloud forest in Honduras supplies 40 percent of the water that 850,000 nearby humans use. For this reason, cloud forests are sometimes called "nature's water towers."

There is quite an abundance of life in cloud forests. However, an estimated 80 percent of the varieties of life forms in cloud forests have gone undocumented. There simply has not been much study on the flora and fauna of cloud forests. We do know that some endangered species, such as gorillas, make their homes in cloud forests. Other species are found only in cloud forests. That means that if the cloud forests disappear, so will these animals and plants.

Some experts have calculated that it may take as little as a decade for all of the cloud forests to vanish from the Earth. Changes in the amount of water available to the forests through mists can cloud would change the ecosystem. Deforestation -- which is occurring in some cloud forests -- would remove the cloud forests altogether. It is feared that global warming and pollution will transform the lush, misty, water producing landscapes into dry forests and then perhaps worse.

Because of the obvious threats to the world's cloud forests, the Cloud Forest Conservation Alliance was formed. The alliance helps raise awareness of the problem and aid in conserving these fairy tale forests. A lot is going to need to change and quite a bit of research will have to be crammed into a short time. If we only have ten years, we have a lot of work to do if we want to lessen the impact we are having on this planet.

Sources

Cloud Forest Conservation Alliance, retrieved 6/21/11, cloudforests.org

Roach, Joan, Cloud Forests Fading in the Mist, Their Treasures Little Known, retrieved 6/21/11, news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/08/0813_cloudforest.html

Survival of the Cutest Ensures Some Species Get No Attention From Conservationist Campaigns

“Survival of the cutest” is a term that is used to describe the seemingly inappropriate balance when it comes to conservation awareness. In other words, cuter endangered animals seem to be more likely to garner media attention, and therefore public donations, regarding their plight. “Survival of the cutest” is also a term that is sometimes used to describe how selective breeding has made domestic dog breeds “evolve” for cuteness, rather than function. However, the purpose of this article is to discuss the former definition of the phrase.

Scientists and researchers believe that the Earth is currently in the midst of the biggest mass extinction since an asteroid impact (or some other catastrophic event) wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. If they are correct, and evidence shows that they are, this would be the sixth mass extinction on Earth of which we are aware. Many people realize that we (humans) are at least partly to blame for this mass extinction. So, many people are becoming more conscious of the plight of endangered species and some are doing what they can to help. However, as stated above, there seems to be a great deal of selectiveness involved in the spreading of conservation awareness.

You’ve probably heard of the decreasing population of some penguin species, the Great Panda, snow leopards, various tiger species, polar bears, etc. Of course, some of these animals are dangerous predators, but they sure are cute, aren’t they? Have you ever heard of the decreasing populations of the Antigua ground lizard, the Wyoming Toad (listed as extinct in the wild), the Iowa Pleistocene snail (once thought to have been extinct, now listed as endangered) or the Kihansi spray toad (extinct in the wild)? You most likely have not. There are researchers who believe that the reason you have not heard of them is because of the mechanism that is “survival of the cutest.”

There are countless conservation groups out there whose logos feature cute and fluffy creatures. Many of these conservation groups are solely dedicated to saving these cute and fluffy creatures. While it is very important to save these endangered animals, it is equally important that we save those endangered animals that aren’t so cute and fluffy. Many organizations rely on donations from the public to fund their conservation efforts. If these donations are only being given to “save the pandas” and “save the penguins” type efforts, what hope do endangered snake, insect and other creepy, crawly species have?

All animals are important to their respective ecosystems and a lot of species rely on each other for survival. In other words, that cute and fluffy creature you so wish to save may, in the wild, prey on an endangered species that isn’t so aesthetically pleasing. Perhaps it may be more important to rescue  what we can of the food chain than it is to just save the animals that look good in our zoos.

Sources

Rockets, Rusty, Survival of the Cutest, retrieved 2/14/10, scienceagogo.com/news/endangered_species.shtml

Mass Extinctions, retrieved 2/14/10, science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric_world/mass-extinction.html

Wyoming Toad, retrieved 2/14/10, stlzoo.org/animals/abouttheanimals/amphibians/frogsandtoads/wyomingtoad.htm