Research Project ROUGH Draft #1

The overabundant use of nitrogen in commercial fertilizers and lack of concern for wastewater runoff concentrations of nitrogen are leading our nation into a desperate struggle to keep our summertime ocean ecosystems and shorelines alive. A chain reaction is taking place right under our noses, which is changing the way our rivers and oceans interact with one another and the biodiversity they can support.
Although they are not widely acknowledged or publicised in the United States, ocean dead zones present huge challenges for the future in agricultural practice and water management, because they are affecting our fisheries and the biodiversity of our coastal areas.

According to Barbara Juncosa, "dead zones are not new; they form seasonally in economically viral ecoystems worldwide, including the Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay. Agricultural runoff sparks many of these die-offs; increased use of nitrogen fertilizers has doubled the number of lifeless pockets every decade since the 1960s, resulting in 405 dead zones now dotting coastlines globally" (1) One area of major concern in the United States is the Mississippi River Basin. Due to the fact that it drains nearly 40% of the entire United States and is in the center of the largest area of cropland in the nation puts it right inline for big ecological problems. The use of monoculture crop raising in this region is particularly bad, and fertilizers are the most abundant source of nutrients for crops from soybeans to corn. This area of the country is also a large producer of grains grown for domestic livestock feed and that production is aided with fertilizer as well. This relationship with the earth is having profound impacts.

Our relationship with nature has changed in the last 50 years in quite a drastic way in the United States. We have moved from a family farm producer society to a city dwelling mega farm production society. This has had many benefits and many costs as well. One of the major costs to the environment from this mega farming production system is the clearing of huge areas of land for raising crops and consequently the massive amount of water runoff that this cleared land produces. Major water runoff is a problem on its own, producing large quantities of topsoil erosion and runoff into waterways that become choked with sediment. More importantly though, this runoff oftentimes carries with it the chemicals and bi-products of our massive scale crop production. Fertilizers are used to enhance the viability of soil that has been farmed too much, or in soil that is of the wrong composition for specific target crops that a farmer is planting. These fertilizers are used in heavier concentrations in conjunction with the spring and summer growing seasons, which is the time of the largest mass of dead zones.
In the Mississippi River Basin in particular, Turner, Rabalais and Justic cite that the increased production of corn has come at the expense of cotton, the conservation reserve program, and soybean acreage, which is a crop more efficient in retaining nitrogen once applied. (2) Our addiction to cheap corn sweeteners and the rise of use of ethanol based bio-fuels has only spurred more growth in this sector of the agricultural industry.

The process by which high concentrations of nitrogen are turned into a dead zone is a cycle of boom and bust. When the large concentrations of nitrogen enter the warmer estuary waters of a delta or gulf and cause an algae bloom. The life cycle of these algae blooms includes sinking to the bottom of the body of water to decompose with the aid of bacteria. This process consumes oxygen though, and in the massive scale that is required for breaking down these super algae blooms, it is faster than it can be naturally replaced in the water, creating a dead zone. Booth and Campbell point out that the natural stratification of the Gulf, whereby lighter river water overlies heavier salt water, impedes overturn and oxygen recharge at depth. (3) These dead zones are called hypoxic zones which means low oxygen. When oxygen concentrations in a body of water reach down to 2 parts per million, an area is considered to be hypoxic. To sum up this idea as described by ScienceDaily dead zones are caused by farm fertilizers and other chemicals, and their runoff into rivers creating a large amount of plankton, which in turn depletes oxygen as it sinks down into the water. Without sufficient oxygen, marine life on and close to sediment dies. (4)

Effects from hypoxia on fisheries is huge, fish that are able to will leave an area will, but some get trapped and have mass die offs. Some other creatures like shellfish and crustaceans aren't able to move as quickly and can not move out of the hypoxic area in time and have die offs as well. This is pushing fisheries farther off shore and leaving large portions of ocean barren of life.

Solutions to this problem are needed, and fast. While there are no silver bullets that would knock out dead zones completely, industry will have to settle with some terms on fertilizer use eventually. The reintroduction of sustainable farming practices would be a good start for limiting nitrogen release and runoff into waterways. Conventional wisdom has led us astray in the type of agriculture that we have been practicing. As we become more and more dependant on fertilizers to keep up our production of crops like corn, we are destroying ecosystems that we cant even see. Replanting riparian ecosystems, or even just allowing them to regrow could make a huge impact on this problem by allowing the ground to absorb more of the runoff water that would be drained right away without it. I need to find some more solutions for this paragraph, which will require more research on the specifics of how to solve the problem, whereas most of my research has been based on identifying the problem.

In conclusion, ocean dead zones are an ecological nightmare that are slowing destroying our oceans ability to support life in certain areas. Without action, these dead zones will only increase in size and volume.






Works Cited


1.
Juncosa, Barbara. "Suffocating Seas." Scientific American 299.4 (Oct. 2008): 20-22. Academic Search Premier.
EBSCO. University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK. 28 Oct. 2008
http://libapps.uaf.edu:2056/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=34236087&site=ehost-live.

2.
Turner, R. Eugene, Rabalais, Nancy N., and Justic, Dubravko. "Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia: Alternate States and a Legacy" Environmental Science Technology, 10.1021/es071617k: 42, 7, 2323 - 2327,
http://libapps.uaf.edu:2196/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/esthag/2008/42/i07/html/es071617k.html

3.
Booth, M.S. and Campbell, C. "Spring Nitrate Flux in the Mississippi River Basin: A Landscape Model with Conservation Applications" Environmental Science Technology, 41, 15, 5410 - 5418, 2007, 10.1021/es070179e
http://libapps.uaf.edu:2196/cgi-bin/article.cgi/esthag/2007/41/i15/html/es070179e.html

4.
Texas A&M University. "Into The Dead Zone: Galveston Researcher Examines Loss Of Marine Life."
ScienceDaily 7 May 2004. 28 October 2008
http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2004/05/040507082408.htm