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Acid Rain and DeforestationTony Uglietto, Winston Esposito and Robert McDonald |
Acid rain is a big contributor to deforestation in the northeastern part of the United States. H2O has a pH of 7 and acid rain can have a pH of 5-5.5, but in the northeastern part of the United States the pH level can be 4 because of all the cars and industries. The acid rain is caused by the exhaust from cars and trucks and also the pollution that big industries put into the air. These exhausts stay up in the atmosphere and attach to H2O coming down in the form of acid rain. The forests and lakes are affected greatly by acid rain because even though the gasses put into the air happen in urban areas wind can blow the gasses hundreds or miles causing them to land in rural areas. Such is the case when high sulfur coal burned in the Ohio Valley contributed to the acidification and destruction of lakes and forests in the Adirondack region of New York State. Pollution has no regard for state lines or international boundaries, and our neighbors in Canada and Mexico have suffered from policies in the United States that have allowed us to export a measure of our pollution north and south of our borders. Acid fog is also another problem because it has the same affect as acid rain. It is acid rain in the form of fog. It has all the same gasses and this kills trees. Acid rain is a danger to trees especially in New England because evergreen trees cannot reproduce very well in an acid environment. It kills a lot of the pine needles and eventually can kill the tree. Acid rain reacts with very important nutrients needed by the trees such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium. It damages root hairs and decreases its resistance to frost and drought. When the leaves of the trees die and it rains, the impact of the rain erodes the soil, washing away nutrients and topsoil. Acid rain can be minimized by doing a number of things. One would be to drive more fuel efficient cars. It would save the driver money and it will also be better for the environment. Another thing that industries could do is to burn more efficient fuels which would cut down on the amount of acid rain. Taking advantage of wind power projects to produce electricity would also cut down on the coal needed to be burned to satisfy our energy needs. Acid rain is a very big problem in deforestation that needs to be addressed immediately.
New England winters require road salts to melt ice on the highways. During the winter, streets and roads become very icy and to melt the ice, so that cars do not slide off of the road or lose control, highway crews use road salts. These road salts contain chemicals that get into the ground when the ice is melted and it affects the plants and is one cause of degraded forests near the highway. The most widely available agent, sodium chloride, is a very corrosive salt, which eventually kills off saplings and undergrowth. Some trees along the coastline are salt resistant because they have evolved near the ocean. Forests inland do not have the similar protection from salts that are toxic in high concentrations. Potassium acetate is significantly more expensive, yet it is an environmentally benign substance. The use of potassium acetate is possible with involvement of private organizations and the proper funding. The road salts problem is not an issue everywhere, In most hot environments, there is no ice therefore no reason to use road salts. Road salts can best be thought off as an additional “stressor” that New England forests must endure in local settings.
Pollution is also another major contributor to deforestation. In major city areas pollution can spread into forests outside of the city and contribute to the degradation of surrounding forests. Again, this can perhaps best be thought of as another “stressor” that weakens forests, making them more vulnerable to a host of other abiotic and biotic factors including disease, snow-ice-wind storms, insects, and drought,
http://www.chadevans.co.uk/asite/Alevel/u03/ln/humaninf2.htm
http://www.treepower.org/news/nytacidrain.html
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/acidrain.html