User:Mr.nosilrub/sandbox

Article Evaluation: Great Pacific garbage patch

There's information missing about its effects on smaller organisms such as plankton, algae, etc., as they have direct effects on the rest of the marine food chain and are responsible for the conversion of CO2 to Oxygen. In addition, the article seems very neutral and does not lean one way or another in terms of biases towards the information it provides. Also, the sources all appear to be credible and the talk page includes multiple suggestions for additional parts of the article that weren't previously covered.

Article Selection: Biosequestration

Since I am planning on writing about the effects of marine dead zones on carbon sequestration, this seems like a very good place to start. The article is very detailed, but lacks information about a few subcategories such as, "The importance of plants in storing atmospheric carbon dioxide." Aside from that, the article itself is very neutral and has numerous citations from credible and reliable sources.

Article Selection: Ocean acidification

This article is very information dense and has very few places where improvement is possible. However, I noticed it lacks a component which discusses the impacts of ocean acidification on marine carbon sequestration, which is a major impact of ocean acidification and, sequentially, the increase of marine deadlines in both quantity and size.

Outline:

Improving "Effects" section, adding sub header "effects on carbon sequestration"

- Depletion of oxygen leads to

- Death of large carbon-sequestering organisms

- Trickle down to smaller carbon-sequestering organisms (i.e. algae and phytoplankton)

- Dead zones decrease production of oxygen, create toxins

- Causes feedback loop that kills more organisms, makes dead zones larger, rinse and repeat

- Increases ocean acidity, kills more organisms, kills plant life and carbon-sequestering organisms

COMMENT: both of these pages seem pretty well-developed, but you've identified some gaps, so your next step would be to find sources to fill them. For biosequestration, an "importance" section seems more difficult, in this respect. For Ocean Acidification, I think what you're identifying is a positive feedback, so maybe there are a few sub-topics to explain there and are probably well-documented in the literature. Julianfulton (talk) 04:33, 23 February 2019 (UTC)

Rough Draft: Adding "2.6 Oceans"

2.6 Oceans

Ocean acidification poses a severe threat to the earth's natural process of regulating atmospheric C02 levels and is a direct result of global warming. The ocean absorbs up to 55% of atmospheric carbon dioxide, lessoning the effects of climate change. This diffusion of carbon dioxide into seawater results in three acidic molecules: bicarbonate ion (HCO3-), aqueous carbon dioxide (CO2(aq)), and carbonic acid (H2CO3). These three compounds increase the ocean's acidity, decreasing its ph by up to 0.1 per 100ppm of atmospheric CO2. The increase of ocean acidity also decelerates the rate of calcification in salt water, leading to slower growing reefs which support a whopping 25% of marine life. As seen with the great barrier reef, the increase in ocean acidity in not only killing the coral as they struggle to grow, but also the wildly diverse population of marine inhabitants.

Another issue faced by increasing global temperatures is the decrease of the ocean's ability to dissolve oxygen, one with potentially more severe consequences than other repercussions of global warming. Ocean depths between 100 meters and 1,000 meters are known as "oceanic mid zones" and host a plethora of biologically diverse species, one of which being zooplankton. Zooplankton feed on smaller organisms such as phytoplankton, which are an integral part of the marine food web. Phytoplankton perform photosynthesis, receiving energy from light, and provide sustenance and energy for the larger zooplankton, which provide sustenance and energy for the even larger fish, and so on up the food chain. The increase in oceanic temperatures lowers the ocean's ability to retain oxygen generated from phytoplankton, and therefore reduce the amount of bioavailable oxygen that fish and various other marine wildlife rely on for their survival. Eventually the planet will warm to such a degree that the ocean's ability to dissolve water will no longer exist, resulting in a worldwide dead zone.

A dead zone is a region of water absent of dissolved oxygen and inherently, life. There are already multiple dead zones across the world, a majority of those being a result of climate change. Dead zones, in combination with ocean acidification, will usher in an era where marine life in most forms will cease to exist, causing a sharp decline in the amount of oxygen generated through bio carbon sequestration, perpetuating the cycle.

2.7 Fresh Water

Fresh water covers only 0.8% of the Earth's surface, but contains up to 6% of all life on the planet. However, the impacts climate change deals to its ecosystems are often overlooked. Very few studies showcase the potential results of climate change on large-scale ecosystems which rely on freshwater, such as river ecosystems, lake ecosystems, desert ecosystems, etc. However, a comprehensive study published in 2009 delves into the effects to be felt by lotic (flowing) and lentic (still) freshwater ecosystems in the American Northeast. According to the study, persistent rainfall, typically felt year round, will begin to diminish and rates of evaporation will increase, resulting in drier summers and more sporadic periods of precipitation. Additionally, a decrease in snowfall is expected, which leads to less runoff in spring when snow thaws and enters the watershed. This decrease in snowfall also leads to increased runoff during winter months, as rainfall cannot permeate the frozen ground usually covered by water-absorbing snow. These effects on the water cycle will wreak havoc for indigenous species residing in fresh water lakes and streams.

Species of fish in cold or cool water can see a reduction in population of up to 50% in the majority of U.S. streams, according to most climate change models. The increase in metabolic demands due to higher water temperatures, in combination with decreasing amounts of food will be the main contributors to decline in population. Additionally, many fish species (such as salmon) utilize seasonal behavior of streams as a means of reproducing, breeding when water flow is high.