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Ocean desertification
Name
Institution
Ocean desertification
Introduction
CITATION Mer18 \l 1033 (Merriam Webster, 2018) dictionary defines desertification as ‘the process of becoming desert (as from land mismanagement or climate change).’ This phenomenon is caused by human activities which threaten the sustainability of mother nature. Typically, most people associate desertification with the growth of deserts and expansion of arid and semi-arid areas where water becomes scarce. However, ocean desertification is a new concept that describes how human activities have adversely affected marine life. Ocean desertification is, therefore, the loss of marine life due to human activities in seas and oceans. As human activities in oceans and on land intensifies, their direct and indirect effects lead to lower oxygen levels in oceans, less light penetration leads to the death of marine life. The marine ecosystem is affected by these factors and over time they die, migrate or become extinct. In the long run, humans will be affected by ocean desertification because it is an important source of our food and supports other industries like cement manufacturing and marine tourism. It is therefore important to come up with innovative solutions and institute stringent policies focused on protecting marine life as our survival partly depends on its sustainability. Human activities cause oceans desertification, and it is preventable.
Causes
Climate change
Climate change is the inevitable fate of our planet caused by unsustainable human practices. It has been accelerated by the industrial revolution and human population increase in the last century. Today, oceans are rising due to increased temperatures experienced on the planet. The ozone layer is continuously being depleted, and a carbon dioxide blanket has formed over our atmosphere which reflects terrestrial radiation back. 2015 was the hottest year recorded in history which shows how human activities have destroyed the planet CITATION Nat16 \l 1033 (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2016). Due to the increased temperatures, polar ice caps have started melting and adding to the ocean water. Ice caps on mountains across the world have also significantly reduced due to the increased temperatures experienced around the world. Human activities continue to make the planet inhabitable due to heat, and the oceans have started rising significantly. Rising oceans prevent good sunlight penetration to the ocean floor to support marine life. Therefore, millennia-old corals are dying due to lack of sunlight and most other plant species which carry out photosynthesis on the ocean floor. This leads to reduced oxygen levels and food scarcity for marine life which are an integral part of this ecosystem.
Ocean pollution
More indecomposable human waste is continuously being dumped in oceans. Today there are thousands of tons of plastic wastes which is floating on the oceans obscuring sunlight penetrations to the depths of the oceans. Oil spills have also become prevalent due to increased human activities on the oceans and more chemicals from industries all over the world find their way to the oceans. Carbon dioxide which has increased steadily in the past century causes acid rains which find its way into the ocean hence altering the standard PH value for sustainability of marine life. These effects have a direct impact on marine biology and have adversely affected the ecology in its most prevalent areas. Marine life and vegetation are sensitive to changes in biogeochemical differences and most of these factors lead to the extinction of some crucial marine species which help balance and sustain marine ecosystem. Some animals such as sea urchins have been found to have reduced fertilization success due to fertilizers washed from farms CITATION NHa08 \l 1033 (N.Havenhand, Fenina-RaphaelaButtler, C.Thorndyke, & E.Williamson, 2008). Continued deposition of indecomposable human waste on oceans affect the sunlight penetration levels to the depth of oceans and causes marine vegetation to die hence plummeting oxygen levels and reduced food for marine animals.
Development of coastal urban areas
Coastal urban areas have a significant impact on marine life. Coastal urban areas intensify human activities around these areas and cause significant adverse effects on the nearby marine life. Humans living in coastal areas look up to oceans as a source of food, and they may over exploit marine life to meet their economic needs. It is the unsustainable practices which threaten the marine ecosystem and cause it to die. Development of coastal areas leads to the establishment of industries whose waste finds its way into the oceans either directly or indirectly. Chemical wastes and hazardous solid waste produced by the human development of coastal urban areas threaten the growth of vegetation in the shallow waters which adversely affects their development plans. Development of urban areas around the coast also requires transport network. Partly the reason they are coastal urban areas is that of utilization of the oceans as a mode of transport. Cars, ships, boats among other types of transport require increased carbon emission to the atmosphere which increases the prevalence of acid rain. In some instances, land accidents also affect marine life though rare. For example, the nuclear reactor meltdown in Fukushima led to nuclear contamination on the oceans which greatly affected marine biology CITATION Bat16 \l 1033 (Batlle, 2016).
Land-based human activities
It is hard to imagine that land-based human activities such as farming affect marine life. For instance, farming has increasingly been dependent on the artificial introduction of nutrients through use of fertilizers. Fertilizers are prevalent in areas where the soil has been over-farmed and depleted of resources. These fertilizers are artificial, and during rains, they are washed into water bodies like oceans. The chemical present in these fertilizers alter the PH value of ocean water significantly especially at the point of entry to the oceans and disrupt the natural balance of the marine chemical composition. Pesticides and herbicides also find their way to oceans, and they kill marine life which is important in maintaining the sustainable ecosystem. Poor farming methods which lead to erosion also affect oceans adversely. The siltation which is channelled to oceans is deposited on ocean floor thus potentially destroying the tiny vegetation or marine life which grows there. The siltation also contaminates the water turning it brown over an extensive area at the point of entry. This prevents proper sunlight penetration to the ocean floor which leads to reduced vegetation which is an important source of food. Corals are dying for lack of oxygen and sunlight CITATION Rob96 \l 1033 (Mast & Mast, 1996). Oxygen levels in these waters plummet, and marine life either dies, migrates or becomes extinct. Some other inland activities such as cement production using coral reefs also affect the natural balance of life on the continental shelf.
Natural Factors
There are also natural factors that lead to ocean desertification though they do not pose a significant long-term impact on the ecosystem. Some of these factors are unavoidable such as land forming processes through volcanic activities. Marine volcanoes occasionally emit poisonous gases into the water at the point of their action. If the volcanic activity remains active for long, the temperature and chemical composition of the ocean at these areas lead to desertification due to contamination of the water. Tectonic movements can alter the geography of the sea which also leads to desertification through exposing or submerging existing land masses on which vegetation grew. However, natural factors are not as destructive nor do they lead to desertification as human factors. They also do not have long-term adverse effects on the marine life CITATION Wil16 \l 1033 (Broad, 2016).
The aforementioned primary causes that lead to ocean desertification act synergistically rather than individually to deliver the devastating effects. It is a cumulative effect of these issues that marine life starts disappearing and leading to desertification. Unfortunately, these factors continue to destroy marine life, and very little or enough is being done to save this natural resource on which our survival depends on. Here are some of the effects of ocean deser...