Help Save Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

            Lake Atitlan, located in the mountainous region of Guatemala, has been called one of the most beautiful places in the world.  Surrounded by large volcanoes and small fishing villages this lake is a spectacle for the senses.  The lake is losing its luster though according to the article “Help Save Lake Atitlan, Guatemala”, written by Barbara Schieber.  In the past few decades, tourism leading to the growth of towns and industry around the lake has ended up hurting the lake they depend on.  Before tourism began to boom, the residents around the lake lived in a more sustainable way, a way that did not pollute the lake.  But with the influx of tourists and the news ways in which the area had to accommodate them, pollution began to spread.  It began with debris such as plastic bottles and garbage.  Then it turned out the hotels and businesses around the lake that accommodated tourists were dumping sewage water and other toxins directly into the lake.  The Guatemalan government, not having the strong political structures to enforce environmental laws, has not gone through the right steps to halt this pollution of the lake.  Also, contamination has risen due to agricultural practices around the lake.  In this region farmers use an abundance of fertilizers and chemical protectants on their crops, little of which is regulated by the government.  These toxins reached the lake, and in 2008 cyanobacteria (a blue-green algae) was reported.

            This problem corresponds with our discussion of the Highly-Developed Nations compared to Less-Developed Nations.  Poverty in this country is tremendous, and businesses and individuals may not have the money to fund equipment and certain practices that prevent pollution.  Also, lesser developed countries tend to have an unstable political structure and Guatemala is no exception to this.  The amounts of consumption the region is not due to the native population.  Over-consumption came as a result of the influx of tourists from highly developed nations. 

            Having actually visited Lake Atitlan myself I know how special this place really is.  It is truly sad that a place so rich in native culture and natural beauty is facing the problems that it is.  The way I see it is that the tourists to the area did not mean to have such a drastic affect on the Lake.  It was the fact that the region was not capable of accommodating tourism in a environmentally safe way due to the reason states before.  But as I have seen, it is also the people who visit the lake and have fallen in love with it that are taking strides to protect it.  They know the native population does not have the means nor perhaps the right information to act sustainably.  So, many tourists have formed groups and raised money to do so.  The reason the lake became polluted to begin with may also be the reason it is protected in the future.

Source:  Schieber, Barbara. "Help Save Lake Atitlan, Guatemala." Guatemala News. 27 Oct. 2009. Web. 25 Feb. 2012. <http://www.guatemala-times.com/news/guatemala/1222-help-save-lake-atitlan-guatemala.html>.

Staghorn Coral Transplanted to Threatened Reef

Scientists and researchers at Nova Southeastern University’s Oceanographic Center and the National Coral Reef Institute will transplant 28 basketball-sized, on-land, nursery-grown staghorn coral to reefs off Florida’s Broward County coast in order to save the reef from persistant threats.  Scientists have been carefully growing staghorn coral for about 18 months now and they will continue to monitor them on a monthly basis once placed in the reef.  This operation is a first on many different levels.  Firstly, it is the first time on-land nursery grown reef has been transplanted to Broward County and secondly, this county is the furthest north reef that staghorn coral has even been translated to.  The reef off Broward County coast is at great threatening risks due to degradation from human causes such as: pollution, overfishing, climate change and development.  Reefs such as these, need to be protected as they serve protection purposes for young fish to hide from predators.  These transplanted reefs will help the reef by providing these forms of protection again and restoring genetically diverse colonies.  Researcher David Gilliam Ph.D. states, “It’s vital to have both on-land and in-water nurseries to help better understand how to restore coral reefs.”  NSU’s land-based coral nursery will be soon opening an 86,000- square-foot, $40-million center for coral reef science research, making it the largest in the country. 

Several topics we are learning in class relate to topics found in this article.  Firstly, this article demonstrates the relationship between organisms and their environment, the basis of ecology.  Furthermore, the overwhelming human actions effect today’s ecological system are demonstrated through the depletion of coral reefs in this article.  Additionally, this specific coral reef’s food web is affected from the lack of staghorn coral that would otherwise protect and hide younger fish of lower trophic levels.  Lastly, the need for genetic variation, that lack in the Broward county coast reefs, relates to what we have discussed in class. 

In my opinion I find the steps NSU has taken and will take in the future to protect Florida’s reef to be extremely commendable however, I can’t help but pay attention to why they need to be protected.  In addition to replenishing what human activity has depleted in coral reefs, we need to stop the problem from continuing.  In order to fix the problem we include the source of the threat to coral reefs,  which is most directly, the human impact on ecological systems. 

 Source:

Nova Southeastern University. "Staghorn coral transplanted to threatened reef." ScienceDaily, 17 Feb. 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.

Discovery of earth's climate patterns (John Izzo)

On April 6, 2010, Santa Barbara geologist Lorraine Lisiecki discovered a method to figure out why the changes in earth’s climate occur. By studying ocean sediments, Lisiecki and a team of scientists were able to trace the earth’s climate patterns millions of years into the past. They discovered a pattern that gave a direct link between earth’s historic climate changes and its changing orbit.

The eccentricity of earth’s orbit around the sun changes approximately every 100,000 years, becoming either more round or more elliptical. After the study of the ocean sediments, scientists found that a direct connection with this orbital pattern is the glaciation of the planet, which also occurs every 100,000 years. Because it is extremely unlikely that these two major events would not be related in some way, this became the basis of future of earth’s climate. The most intriguing discovery was that the planet seemed to go through periods of heavy glaciation during the intervals in which eccentricity was experiencing the weakest change, and vice versa.

In relating these studies to our class discussions, the effect of additional greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere can potentially have a major effect on the earth’s glaciation cycle. These additional gasses are causing the earth’s average temperature to increase each year, and it eventually may not be able to cool down to the proper temperature for glaciation to occur. As the study shows, this planet has been able to cool in response to its orbital changes for millions of years, but additional greenhouse gasses in all likelihood will alter this cycle dramatically.

The orbital patterns theoretically would decrease the amount of heat that reaches earth. Because of the industrialization our planet has gone through within the past 150 years, much more carbon dioxide has been added into the atmosphere due to burning of fossil fuels. This massive increase in greenhouse gasses has enabled our planet to retain much more heat than it has in the past. Eventually, the planet’s natural cooling process will not able to keep up anymore.

Source –

University of California - Santa Barbara (2010, April 6). Geologist connects regular changes of Earth's orbital cycle to changes in climate. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 18, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2010/04/100406133707.htm

Low Temperatures Enhance Ozone Degradation Above the Arctic

The mechanisms leading to the first ozone hole reported above the North Pole was studied by scientists of the KIT Instituted of Technology and Climate Research (IMK) after extremely cold temperatures, observed over the winter months of the 2010-2011 season, caused the most massive destruction of the ozone layer in the Artic to date. Based off the data collected, greater cooling of the ozone layer may enhance the effects of ozone depleting substances i.e. chlorocarbons. If repeated occurrences of these frigid weather conditions ensue, an ozone hole above the Arctic is expected to form.

It was nearly a year ago when IMK scientists and Oxford colleagues discovered ozone degradation over the Arctic that was nearly equivalent to the ozone hole over the South Pole. After studying the mechanisms of this observed phenomenon and publishing their findings in “Geophysical Research Letters”, it was noted that the Arctic hole was due to extremely cold temperatures in the ozone layer, located 18 km in the stratosphere. It is at this location where chlorine compounds, which exists from chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and other pollutants are chemically converted to attack and destroy part of the ozone layer at temperatures below -78°C. If these cold temperatures in the stratosphere ensue, repeated occurrences of an Arctic hole will continue to be observed.

The chemical composition of the stratosphere was analyzed and measured by the MIPAS satellite instrument produced by KIT scientists. Model calculations were also done to predict and determine “concrete” effects of further cooling. Based off the proposed model, it is said that “further decrease in temperature by as little as 1°C would be sufficient enough to nearly destroy all of the Arctic ozone layer in most areas”, according to main researcher Dr. Bjorn-Martin Sinnhuber. Research done on the Arctic stratosphere over the past 30 years has suggested that the frigid Arctic winters have been cooling down at a rate of 1°C, on average, per decade. According to Shinnhuber, climate change will be the primary contributor to the development/destruction of the observed ozone layer. With increased carbon emission and other green house gasses, the bottom air layers near the ground will warm up due to thermal radiation, which as a result will also cool the air layers of the stratosphere above.

Since the discovery of CFCs, which are attributed to the Antarctic ozone layer, research has suggested that these substances are difficult to get rid of from our atmosphere. It may take decades before these chemical compounds are completely removed from the air. With the threat of future cooling, these substances become the primary threat to ozone depletion, yet little can be done to rid them from our atmosphere. Though it is impossible to accurately or predict with certainty that temperatures will be low enough over a long period of time to comparably degrade ozone this winter or in the future, it is something we must constantly keep an eye out for.

Relating this article to what we have previously mentioned in class, it becomes obvious that our overshoot and overconsumption of fossil fuels is significantly impacting society as a whole. The atmosphere itself is taking a large hit from ozone depletion. Long-term effects can be seen in the geosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere as well. Further warming due to lack of ozone protection can cause glacial melting, evident from current events previously talked about. This glacial melt can cause increased water levels i.e. hydrosphere, and as a result, continental boundaries may see recession affecting the habitat or homes of humans and animals alike i.e. geosphere and biosphere.

March 2011: Strongly reduced ozone values (left, dark blue) and significantly increased concentration of chlorine monoxide (right, red) that is directly involved in ozone degradation. (Credit: IMK-ASF, KIT)

Image credit - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120119133759.htm

Source - Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (2012, January 19). Low temperatures enhance ozone degradation above the Arctic.ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 14, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2012/01/120119133759.htm.