• Introduction to Marine Environmental Issues
• Natural and Man-made Marine Pollutants
• Impact of Disturbed Habitats on Organisms Prosperity
• Human Activity and Global Oceanic Change

17 data sets: shipping, fishing, pollution, invasive species, temperature change, UV light changes, and ocean acidification human consumption exceeds Earth’s natural replacement capacity by at least 20%

Marine pollution is the introduction into the ocean by humans of substances or energy that changes the quality of the water or affects the physical, chemical, or biological environment.
•Impacts may be acute or chronic
•Organism response will depend on sensitivity to the combination of quantity and toxicity of the pollutant
•Pollutants also vary in their persistence (oil spills, long term atmospheric changes etc.)

Average Annual Releases of Petroleum (1990-1999)
Thousands of Metric Tons/yr
Oil
Natural Oil seeps ~= anthropogenic input
Remediation/cleanup techniques are often more environmentally damaging

• Chlorinated hydrocarbons (pesticides, solvents) DDT
NY (women of childbearing age should limit intake of bluefish)
• Biological Amplification : concentration builds up the trophic levels
• Heavy Metals: toxic in small quantities, mercury, lead, copper, tin
• Minamata disease (ingestion of mercury rich shellfish: kidney damage, neuromuscular deterioration, birth defects, insanity and death)

• Eutrophication : a set of physical, chemical and biological changes that take place when excessive nutrients are released into the water (CSOs, runoff after heavy rains (fertilizer))
• Hypoxia : low dissolved oxygen levels
(decomposition of algae/plankton after a bloom consumes oxygen)
Little Gasparrilla Island, FL
Hypoxic water invades the Gulf of Mexico

Invasive Species:
Phragmites
•Travel in ship ballast water
•Outcompete native species

During warm temperatures: corals expel the zooxanthellae (symbiotic dinoflagellates) from their tissue
Caribbean and tropical Pacific have shown sensitivity of 1 o C (1.8
o F) above normal summer high temperatures

Could be more threatening to biology of this planet than global warming pH has fallen 0.025 units since 1990 pH has fallen .1 units since pre-industrial era
Global average of 7.7 by 2100
Calcifiers will be most sensative

Dobson Unit: is a measure of the total ozone in a column of air from surface to space, baseline value is 220.

Antarctic Ozone hole permits more UV radiation to reach the ocean
•1990 Observations: 6-12% drop in phytoplankton productivity in the region influenced by the hole which lasted 10-12 weeks
•Levels will be lowest (worst) between 2010 and 2019
•Recovery to pre-1980 levels by 2055

Ocean Warming
Anomalies relative to long-term average
Greatest changes at mid-high latitudes
Thermal expansion, rising sea levels Species migration
Decrease in dissolved gasses