Pollution: Environmental Effects and Impact

1. Introduction Pollution has affected us in many different ways and it has brought many problems. In this brochure, we will be telling you about: Bioindicators Bioamplification Bioremediation Importance of minimizing pollution Pollution: Environmental Effects and Impact Nicholas Yau(33) 2O1

2. Minimising Pollution Pollution causes instability and harm to the ecosystem, it will cause animals’ health. The food chain will be affected if the pollution continues and if that species is wiped out, it causes an imbalance in the food chain and all the species would be affected and it would affect us eventually. It would affect our health, one recent example is the Japan earthquake. It destroyed the nuclear plant ad it released radioactive substances into the ocean and nearby areas and it is said it would affect our health as it can cause cancer. So let’s do our part. Start reducing, reusing and recycling. Bioindicators .This process will continue until it comes to the stage of humans, who are at the top of the food chain. . The pollutants become more concentrated in the tissues and the internal organs of the organisms as it continues up the food chain. . This would affect the health of the organisms that are involved and may eventually lead to death. The food chain may be affected and there would be a imbalance in the ecosystem. Bioremediation Bioremediation is the removal of pollutants in the body using microorganism metabolism. Examples of bioremediation are: Bioventing, land farming etc. Bioremediation can happen by itself or they manually add fertilisers to increase the availability of the microorganisms. This method is cost efficient but it is not flexible enough to remove all contaminants. They are biological species that check if there are any pollutants in the environment through changes in responses and symptoms. When they sense pollutants in the environment, they change physiologically, chemically and behaviourally. Examples of different types of bioindicators are: Plant indicators, animal indicators, macroinvertebrate indicators etc. Bioamplification Bioamplification is the rise in a pollutant’s concentration in the food chain. This is due to: Non- biodegradable pollutants Low decomposing rate of the pollutants (usually insoluble in water) A more detailed process would be this: Pollutants are disposed into rivers and Lakes Pollutants eaten by the aquatic animals Aquatic animals eaten by large birds and animals