The Impacts of Oil Spills on Marine and Terrestrial Ecosystems

The Impacts of Oil Spills on Marine and Terrestrial Ecosystems

Introduction

There are a number of problems, issues and controversies that the planet currently faces. One of the most alarming and threatening of these issues is Pollution. Be it any form, land, water, air or noise, pollution and its consequences have affected many of the ecological aspects of the plane severely. Unfortunately, humans have nothing else to blame but themselves for all the damage done to the ecological system and various associated aspects. The further alarming fact is that humans still continues to perform all those activities that were the cause of all these problems in the first place. Therefore, the planet and its environment remain prone to the consequences of Global Warming, Ozone rupture and extinction of many species. However, the most troubling and alarming issue that will have further serious impact is the increase in water pollution. As a result of a number of marine activities by humans, the terrestrial ecosystem has been a major concern area for not just humans but also many other species.

Discussion

Many human activities result in damages caused to the marine and terrestrial ecosystem. Industrialization and increase in human population are two of the major factors contributing towards contamination of the rivers, seas and other natural water resources. However, the marine and shipping activities by humans and the dumping oil spills and various other contaminated material is perhaps the major reason of seawater pollution.

Many companies throughout the globe have started to realize the effects that are caused to the environment, habitants and other species in the coastal areas. However, the measures adapted to control the pollution have somehow failed to prove their usefulness. Hence, the oil spills continues to damage the marine and terrestrial ecosystem and environment in many ways. These includes

Planktons

Simple Planktonic organisms like plants, bacteria and mammals are supported by Pelagic Zone in the sea. These include larvae and eggs of all the species that eventually settles down on shoreline and seabed and includes several invertebrates and fishes. These Planktons feed in and evolve as a result of nutrition consumption from the favorable conditions. Therefore, on the other hand, damaging in any aspects of the Pelagic Zone will ultimately affect the environment in turn affecting the growth and developmental stages of the larvae and eggs of the fish and various other invertebrates. Therefore, the population of species living in the seabeds is most likely to get affected (Juhasz, 2011).

Fish

Fishes in their later stages of life are more resilient to the damage caused to the seawater by all the human activities. Fishes have completely evolved their dermal protection and therefore are able to avoid and detect these oil discharges. Hence, fresh water fishes are known to be more resistance to the oil spills. As for the fishes in the terrestrial regions, are also susceptible to the damages and consequences of oil spill.

However, the greater concerns are the constant impacts that ...