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biol 381 > Acidification > Flashcards

Acidification Flashcards

1
Q

_____ _____= the settling, of deposition of acidic or acidic-forming pollutants from the atmosphere onto Earth’s surface

A

acid deposition

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2
Q

Acid deposition includes:
(list 4)

A
  • acid precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, hail)
  • acid fog
  • acidic gases
  • acidic dry particles
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3
Q

acid deposition is mostly caused by ____ activities, but can be ____
- it occurs when pH < ___

A

anthropogenic
natural

5.6

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4
Q

T/F
precipitation is naturally slightly acidic

What’s the usual pH of rain?

A

true!
rain pH= 5.6

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5
Q

What’s the first step in the acid deposition pathway?

A

SO2, CO2, and NOx emissions are released

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6
Q

What are the largest sources of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in Canada?

A

CO2: oil and gas industry

SO2: largest source is oil and gas industry

NOx: largest source is transportation

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7
Q

___ of CO2 released by burning coal, oil, & gas dissolves into the ocean

As a result, in the past 200 years, oceans have become __% more acidic

A

1/4

30%

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8
Q

What’s the second step in the acid deposition pathway?
How does it happen?

A

The pollutants are transformed into acid particles

  • Oxidizes in the atmosphere
  • oxidized form dissociates in water vapor (in the atmosphere) to release H+ and form acid
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9
Q

___ transport these acids long distances (no matter the source)- usually go toward the poles

A

winds

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10
Q

what’s the 3rd step in the acid deposition pathway?

A

the acid particles fall to the earth as wet or dry depositions

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11
Q

wet deposition=

A

acids removed from the atmosphere in the form of water (rain, snow, sleet, hail)

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12
Q

dry deposition=

A

acids removed from the atmosphere in the form of particulates or gases (no water).
- often in the form of fly ash, sulfates, nitrates, and SO2 and NOx gas

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13
Q

What is the 4th step in the acid deposition pathway?

A

May cause harmful effects to soils, forests, streams, lakes, and more
*some areas get the worst of it as it accumulates over time

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14
Q

List 3 ways in which acid deposition damages soils

A
  1. depletes calcium and other base cations (nutrients in the soil)
  2. mobilizes aluminum, heavy metals from soil to water
  3. accumulates sulfur, nitrogen in soils –> can lead to eutrophication
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15
Q

How does acid deposition damage forest ecosystems?
- list 1 direct effect and 1 indirect effect

A

direct effect: leaches Ca out of needles
- lose calcium in cell membranes= more susceptible to freezing, so they usually die in the winter

indirect effect: alters soil chemistry
- even less calcium to uptake, more toxic aluminum

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16
Q

Acid deposition causes increased leaching of ___ into surface waters as runoff from soils

A

aluminum

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17
Q

What happens to aquatic animals if the pH is too low in streams and lake ecosystems?

A

can be lethal
- can disrupt osmotic balance in fish, eventually leading to heart attacks

18
Q

Explain what happens to aquatic invertebrates (zooplankton) when streams and lake ecosystems acidify

A
  • usually, zooplankton take up calcium from the water to build their shells
  • but, if the water is acidic (therefore less Ca in the water), then the water takes back the calcium from the zooplankton, dissolving their shells
19
Q

What experiment helped us figure out that acidification is a huge problem?

A

The experimental acidification of Lake 302 and 223 at ELA in Ontario

20
Q

After lake 302 recovered from acidification, what happened to the phytoplankton species that were in the lake before acidification?

A

most of the species almost died off when it was very acidic, and once the lake was recovered back to normal pH, there was a slight shift in the species that returned

21
Q

zooplankton biomass overall ____ (inc/ dec) as lake 302 acidified

A

decreased
some species of zooplankton were more tolerant than others though

22
Q

T/F
all but 2 species of fish disappeared from lake 302 when it was acidified to pH= 4.6

Did they all return naturally once pH was brought back up?

A

false
all but 1 species! (meaning that 1 species is tolerant to acid)

No, they did not return naturally. They only returned because the lake was restocked.

23
Q

Which are acidifying faster- oceans or freshwater?

A

freshwater is acidifying faster

BUT oceans are still seeing a significant decrease in pH!

24
Q

Ocean pH is normally= __
- could go down to __ this century
- This would have a huge impact on ___

A

8
7.5

biodiversity

25
Q

There have been 4 pieces of acid deposition legislation in Canada.
List all 4 (names and dates)

A
  1. 1985 Eastern Canada Acid Rain Program
  2. 1991 Canada-US Air Quality Agreement
  3. Canada-wide Acid Rain Strategy Post- 2000 (signed 1998)
  4. 2004 Acid Rain Science Assessment
26
Q

What did the 1985 Eastern Canada Acid Rain Program do?

A
  • capped SO2 emissions in the 7 easternmost provinces (updated in 2000 to adjust cap on emissions)
  • established monitoring

*this was the first time Canada stepped in and did something about the problem

27
Q

What did the 1991 Canada-US Air Quality Agreement do?

A
  • cut SO2 and NOx emissions in CAN and US
  • increased monitoring
28
Q

What did the Canada-wide Acid Rain Strategy Post- 2000 (signed 1998) do?

A
  • continued reductions in SO2 emissions
  • even more monitoring
  • regulate reports to public- must be accessible
  • prevent clean/ undamaged areas from being degraded (+start recovery)
29
Q

What did the 2004 Acid Rain Science Assessment find?

A
  • need to reduce emissions even further (stricter caps)
  • need to address acidification in the west & north (where the most emissions happen)
30
Q

There are 2 parts to ecosystem recovery from acid deposition:
1. ____ recovery
2. ____ recovery

A

chemical

biological (can’t happen until chemical recovery is well underway)

31
Q

chemical recovery=

A

decrease in damaging [chemical] in soils and waters.
if the decrease is sufficient, pH will increase

*chemical recovery must begin before biological recovery can start

32
Q

Biological recovery=

A

*can’t begin until chemical recovery is well underway

= multi-step return and/or increase in health or organisms in previously acidified ecosystems

33
Q

Is chemical recovery occurring?
What is the rate of chemical recovery dependent on?

A

yes!

rate depends on resistance on the ecosystem to acid deposition- determined by the amount of calcium naturally found in soils and surface waters

34
Q

If an ecosystem has lots of ____, it’s most resistant/ resilient to acid rain

A

calcium

35
Q

If an ecosystem has low Ca, it’s less resistant/ resilient to ____ ____

A

acid deposition

*if Ca has been depleted, ecosystem takes a really long time to recover

36
Q

202 lakes were originally targeted in ___ with legislation.

__% have reduced acidity :)
56% show ___ _____
__% have increased acidity :(

A

1985

33%
no change
11%

37
Q

Do soils appear to be chemically recovering?

A

yes, but slowly
- further acidification isn’t occurring
- pH slowly increasing again
- Al levels decreasing

38
Q

Is biological recovery occurring?

A

probably, but slowly
data is still limited

39
Q

____ recover faster from acidification because they have a short life

_____ (like __)take a long time to biologically recover

A

microorganisms

macroorganisms like trees

40
Q

why is it hard to tell is recovery is happening?

A

it takes several years for recovery to happen- we only started paying attention to acidity in the 1990’s, so we need more time to tell

41
Q
  • It can take __+ years for zooplankton to recover from acidification
  • 10-20+ years for ___ populations to recover
  • > __ years for trees to recover
A

10

fish

20

biol 381 (22 decks)

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