Lake Baikal is a body of water located in the Eastern part of Siberia. It should be known that this body of water is interesting largely due to the lake’s history and its important facts. The lake was formed approximately 20 to 25 million years ago with a depth of 5,000 feet. Lake Baikal’s extensive lifetime and covering nearly 400 miles throughout Siberia makes it the oldest and deepest existing fresh water lake on earth (Lake Baikal). Of the hundreds of thousands of lakes on this earth, Lake Baikal holds the distinct honor of being the oldest existing fresh water lake. In addition to being the oldest and deepest lake on planet Earth, Lake Baikal contains 20 percent of the world’s total unfrozen water (Saving Lake Baikal). In researching fresh water in lakes I was intrigued to by this fact. In mathematics, 20 percent is equal to the fraction one-fifth. Generally 20 percent seems like a rather small figure but considering one-fifth of the world makes 20 percent an extraordinary amount. The 20 percent of unfrozen water means that Lake Baikal is home to one-fifth of all freshwater held throughout the world.
Another interesting fact about Lake Baikal is that more than 1,700 species of animals and plants live in the body of water. Of the 1,700 species, approximately two-thirds of those animals are unique to Lake Baikal. In other words, nearly sixty-six percent of Lake Baikal’s animals cannot be found in any other body of water in the world (Saving Lake Baikal). Species found in Lake Baikal include arctic grayling, Baikal sturgeon, and freshwater seal. Due to the huge selection and uniqueness of species in the lake many people do not know of or do not see numerous species that exist in our world. 1,700 different species in one lake is...
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...ontaminated it will affect the whole world negatively as the world would face similar threats as the species if the lake issues are does not be fixed. The contamination can cause many animals to die or become ill, unique species will more than likely not be identified, people will be deprived the right to see the unique animals live and swim freely, and the water will not be fresh so many people may become sick as well if they were to breathe in or otherwise make contact with the toxic chemicals. Russians appreciate and value Lake Baikal but there seems to be little progress made toward figuring out a solution that will eliminate or even decrease the environmental issue the lake is facing. Still, Russians have yet to give up they are still trying to figure out and come up with a way to stop this issue. However, most solutions require money enormous amounts of money.
As if there weren’t enough problems for scientists trying to save the Great Lakes Eco System. Many non-native species have entered the eco system and many of them are harmful. Every species in itself has played a role in the eco system. These non-native species make it increasingly difficult for the Great Lakes Eco System to be regulated.
...ost completely degraded. Some dive deep into the water, like a lionfish, bream, viviparous fishes of the family Scorpaenidae and Lake Baikal in some species can dive to 1000 ~ 4000 meters deep, some often floating in the upper, such as six line fish, and Lake Baikal fishes of the family. The fishes swimming are relatively slow, often hidden, not activities or bury the body in the sand, and the type of six line fish families peace Marmora subfamily is good at swimming. The benthic invertebrates and small swimming creatures for food, Scorpaena peeling phenomenon of periodic feeding, more intense, more times, peeling, sometimes even 1 months dulling 2 times. The reproductive season in spring and early summer, six line fish, and some cottidae in the autumn or early winter reproductive, lion fish, fish and Lake Baikal, some species in late winter or early spring spawning.
According to the Worldwatch Institute the rapid industrialization has polluted many lakes and streams resulting in chemical pollution and increased algae blooms leaving the water undrinkable. These combined issues are then causing knock on effects to the aquatic life by staving them of oxygen. Many areas are also suffering with an increase in dust storms; these have been a cause of over agricultural use. These increased storms would not cause many problems but now they can ...
As global temperatures and ocean levels rise, the water levels of the Great Lakes continues to fall. As the lakes hit their all time lowest level in global history in 2012, society remains ignorant to the imposing doom that lurks ahead. Since the Great Lakes make up the largest group of fresh water lakes on Earth and are responsible for approximately 21% of the Earth’s fresh water supply, this issue is becoming one of the largest environmental and economical issues our modern world faces. The effects of this issue include destroying animal habitats and a major economic market; shipping. Water levels in the Great Lakes have been dropping for the past fourteen years, but it wasn’t until boats were scraping the bottom of Lake Huron that people began to take notice. This terrible environmental issue has been dubbed a long term cycle of over evaporation and not enough precipitation to replenish the Lakes. Keith Kompoltowicz, chief of watershed hydrology for the United States Army Corps of Engineers in Detroit has been monitoring this issue for a decade and has made startling discoveries, such as in 2012, he discovered Lake Michigan and Lake Huron’s water levels only rose four inches after winter, whereas the Lakes have been regularly recorded as gaining a foot of water after the winter season had ended. This amount of water added is not enough to maintain a proper water level during the dry, hot summer seasons that evaporate much water from the Great Lakes. While some scientists say that this is just a cycle that will adjust itself naturally, most experts that have been studying this phenomenon, such as Kompoltwicz, would agree that the issue has gone to far
Markovsky, Alexander. "Massive Cutbacks in Karelia's Nature." Taiga Rescue Network 2011-11-08. N.p., 8 Nov. 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
The eradication of species numbers average at a toll close to one hundred percent of earths total living creatures. “It is the Earth's most severe known extinction event, with up to 96% of all marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species becoming extinct” (Sahney, and Benton 759). Not only where marine and terrestrial species effected but this catastrophic event is the only recogni...
As swans drift with the current on a secluded lake in upper Canada they think not of the water they are in but of dreams of the past and wants for the future. On the other hand, seals off the coast of Northern California fear for their lives every day of humans exploiting their natural habitat. Many things can endanger water born animals, and most all of these come directly from humans. The pollutants of water come from many sources both close and far away from the water body itself. Wastes of humans are the major cause of pollution in the water, such materials include sewage, chemicals among other notable items. First, the composition water: water is odorless, tasteless and a transparent liquid. Though in large quantities water appears to have a bluish tint, it maintains the transparent tendency when observed in smaller quantities. Water covers approximately seventy percent of the Earth's surface in the solid and liquid form. Pollutants can be carried over a great distance by combining with evaporating moisture, forming clouds and then the wind taking the clouds to the larger body of water. This process is called acid rain and it is a major source of water pollution. Acid rain has been a problem since the Industrial Revolution, and has kept growing ever since. With acid rain moving over to a fresh water body, the plants and animals could experience pollution that they never had to deal with before and they could possibly die for the sudden change without them having time to adapt, if this is possible.
Canada is a very large country, with areas of land in various climate regions, and land regions, thus having many ecozones that differentiate from another. The most populated ecozone in Canada is the Mixedwood Plains; the ecozone we are located in, named after the mixedwood forests that are native to the area. The Mixedwood Plains is one of the smallest of the Canadian ecozones, spanning only 175 963 kilometres squared. The Mixedwood Plains is bordered by three of the great lakes on the southern side of the ecozone, and comes up along the St Lawrence river to southern Quebec, and fills the tip of Ontario. It has rolling plains and small rock formations and escarpments. The Mixedwood Plains contains over half of the Canadian population as it contains some of Canada’s largest cities, including Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Windsor. The Mixedwood Plains has a relatively temperate climate with summers ranging an average temperature of 18o c – 22oc and winters ranging from -3oc - -110c.[2] Native mammals to the ecozone are black, brown and grizzly bears, grey wolves, coyotes and foxes, raccoons, squirrels, and other small mammals. Avian species include brown sparrow, hawks, crows, cardinals and bluejays. Fish are bass, trout, carp and pike. The Mixedwood Plains is made up of about 40% water, and contains over 20% of the worlds freshwater. One of the major problems in the world today is freshwater shortage. Because we have ample supply, we don’t notice, but much of the world is short on water. There are more water resources, but one of the largest is being quickly polluted and populated by invasive species .
Reason one is it is bad and harmful for the lakes, and it causes pollution. It harms the environment by the extra sulfide being transported. There could be a problem that occurs with how the sulfide is being contained, and it could seep out into the Boundary Waters that are near the mining ground. The mining could also affect the air quality around, and that can be harmful for people and animals to breathe in.
Works Cited Bates, D. (1957, December 17). Letter from Roy Wilkins. Little Rock, Arkansas, United States of America. Beals, M. P. (1994). The Species of the World.
The Great Lakes are one of the most plentiful and prosperous regions in the world. The Great Lakes area is arguably one of the most wonderful places on earth. Well known for its agriculture, tourism, harbors, cities, and of course the water. However, things are not always as blissfully perfect as they seem. There are many things endangering the great lakes. For instance, a big factor of endangerment of the Great Lakes is Pollution. Others aspects of why the Great Lakes are struggling is the amount of habitat loss and the increasing intake of invasive species. These distructful elements are all key components for the Great Lakes to be severely damaged in the future. Since the 1960’s and even beforehand, society had been struggling to take care
The phenomenal recent discovery of the species saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis), was found in the Annamite Mountains along the Laos/Vietnam border in 1992. The saola was the first latest large mammal to be discovered in over 50 years, making it one of the biggest zoological discoveries of the 20th century. Also known as the “Asian unicorn,” the rare saola species prefer living in moist, dense evergreen forests with little or no dry season. The saolas have been attempting to survive in the condensed regions of the subtropical evergreen or mixed evergreen and deciduous forests, only found within the Annamite Mountain Range along the northwest-southeast Vietnam-Laos border (Holcomb). The area of the narrow range of the forests that the saola used to inhabit was is 5,000 to 15,000 sq. km, although they don’t inhabit in this area anymore. The saolas’ extremely scarce numbers make their dispersal difficult to determine; currently, they are known to be densely populated into the decreasing area of the evergreen forests and travel mainly individually and occasionally in clumped dispersion. They have been mainly sighted nearby streams, most likely to survive off of the water and possible supplies nearby. Saolas also tend to live on the borderlines of the forests; they currently inhabit the mountain forests during the wetter seasons and live in the lowlands during the winter. Saola are currently known to be herbivores, eating leafy plants, fig leaves, and stems along the rivers, observed from locals that have sighted them. And their shelters that they specifically reside in are unknown.
Freshwater is quite scarce, but it is even scarcer than one might think: about seventy percent of all freshwater is frozen in the icecaps of Antarctica and Greenland and is unavailable to humans. Most of the remainder is present as soil moisture or lies in deep underground aquifers as groundwater. It is not economically feasible to extract this waster for use as drinking water. This leaves less than one percent of the world’s fresh water that is available to humans. It includes the water found in lakes, reservoirs, groundwater that is shallow enough to be tapped at an affordable cost. These freshwater sources are the only sources that are frequently replenished by rain and snowfall, and therefore are renewable. At the current rates of consumption, however, this supply of fresh water will not last. Pollution and contamination of freshwater sources exacerbate the problem, further reducing the amount of freshwater available for human consumption. Something must be done if humans want to even survive in the near future: the lack of clean drinking water is already the number one cause of disease in the world today. The first step is worldwide awareness of the water crisis: governments and the citizens they govern worldwide need to know about this problem and be actively involved in solving this problem.
Freshwater in the world makes up only a small portion of the water on the planet. While the percentage of water in the world is nearly 70%, only 2.5% is consumable. Even further, only 1% is easily accessible to basic human needs. According to National Geographic, “by 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world's population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth, and climate change.” With this current trend, water will become more immersed in environmental, economic, political, and social changes.
Rogers, Peter. 2008. "Facing the Freshwater CRISIS. (Cover story)." Scientific American 299, no. 2: 46-53. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 4, 2010).