Environmental pollution and livestock By Allah Dad Khan

Environmental pollution and Livestock By Allah Dad Khan

Many animals are dying because of pollution. All types of environmental pollution have negative impact on animal's health, and the worst types of pollution are air, water and noise pollution. Even small levels of environmental pollution create discomfort for many animals while on the other hand more excessive pollution leads to diseases and deaths of animals.

What is pollution?

Pollution occurs when pollutants contaminate the natural surroundings; which brings about changes that affect our normal lifestyles adversely. Pollutants are the key elements or components of pollution which are generally waste materials of different forms. Pollution disturbs our ecosystem and the balance in the environment. With modernization and development in our lives pollution has reached its peak; giving rise to global warming and human illness.

Ways of pollution

Pollution occurs in different forms; air, water, soil, radioactive, noise, heat/ thermal and light. Every form of pollution has two sources of occurrence; the point and the non-point sources. The point sources are easy to identify, monitor and control, whereas the non-point sources are hard to control.  Let us discuss the different types of pollutions, their causes and effects on mankind and the environment as a whole.

Air pollution

Air pollution does not only damage the air; it also damages environments on Earth’s surface and their inhabitants. Plants and animals are harmed by air pollution. Sometimes it is the pollutants themselves that cause damage. Other times pollutants combine and change the resources that plants and animals depend upon such as water, soil, and nutrients. Read on to learn more about the ways that air pollutants can damage environments and the living things within them.

Acidification:

Chemical reactions involving air pollutants can create acidic compounds

which can cause harm to vegetation and buildings. Sometimes, when an air

pollutant, such as sulfuric acid combines with the water droplets that

make up clouds, the water droplets become acidic, forming acid rain. When

acid rain falls over an area, it can kill trees and harm

animals, fish, and other wildlife. 

Eutrophication:

Rain can carry and deposit the Nitrogen in some pollutants on rivers and soils. This will adversely affect the nutrients in the soil and water bodies. This can result in algae growth in lakes and water bodies, and make conditions for other living organism harmful.

Ground-level ozone:

Chemical reactions involving air pollutants create a poisonous gas ozone (O3). Gas Ozone can affect people’s health and can damage vegetation types and some animal life too.

Particulate matter:

Air pollutants can be in the form of particulate matter which can be very harmful to our health. The level of effect usually depends on the length of time of exposure, as well the kind and concentration of chemicals and particles exposed to. Short-term effects include irritation to the eyes, nose and throat, and upper respiratory infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia. Others include headaches, nausea, and allergic reactions. Short-term air pollution can aggravate the medical conditions of individuals with asthma and emphysema. 

Long-term health effects

Long-term health effects can include chronic respiratory disease, lung cancer, heart disease, and even damage to the brain, nerves, liver, or kidneys. Continual exposure to air pollution affects the lungs of growing children and may aggravate or complicate medical conditions in the elderly. 

The thinning ozone layer harms living things

Air pollutants called chlorofluorocarbons(or CFCs) destroy ozone molecules in the stratosphere. This has left places in the layer where the ozone is thin. These areas of thin ozone are called ozone holes. The ozone layer, located in the stratosphere layer of Earth’s atmosphere, shields our planet from the Sun’sultraviolet radiation. Ultraviolet radiation causes skin cancer and damages plants and wildlife. In recent decades the number of CFCs released into the atmosphere has decreased significantly due to an agreement between the nations of the world called the Montreal Protocol. Although it takes a long time to see the impact, the ozone holes might someday be smaller.

Tropospheric ozone harms living things

Ozone molecules in the troposphere damage lung tissues of animals and prevent plant respiration by blocking the openings in leaves, called stomata, where respiration occurs. Without sufficient respiration, a plant is not able to photosynthesize at a high rate and will not be able to grow. Ozone is also able to enter the stomata and decay plant cells directly.

Global warming harms living things

Our planet is currently warming much more rapidly than expected because of additional greenhouse gasses that are released into the atmosphere from air pollution. When fuels are burned, some of the pollutants released, such as carbon dioxide, are greenhouses gasses. Through the process of photosynthesis, plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and use the carbon to grow larger. However, the amount of carbon dioxide released by burning fuels is far greater than plants can convert. Cutting down forests exacerbates the problem

Changing Climate

Global warming is changing climate globally and is causing significant changes to various regions of the world. For example:

Polar ice melt and permafrost melt are causing changes in the habitat and resources for plants and animals living in polar ecosystems.

Ocean warming, rising sea levels, increasing runoff, and coral diseases are causing change in shallow marine ecosystems such as coral reefs.

Less rainfall in the dry interiors of continents due to global warming is limiting water resources for plants and animals.

Types of water pollution

1.Industrial waste 2.Sewage and waste water 3. Sea/River / stream dumping 4.Accidental oil leakage 5. Burning of fossil fuels 6.Leakage from sewer lines 7.Global warming 8.Radioactive waste 9.Urban development 10.Leakage from land fills 11.Animal waste 12.Under ground storage leakage and fertilizers 13.Pesticides

Water Pollution

Water pollution has extremely negative impact on many animals. Water polluted with different chemicals can cause decline of population in some species (such as frog), while on the other hand water polluted with nutrients can lead to huge growth of toxic algae which when eaten by other animals may cause serious diseases and death to these animals

Noise Pollution

Noise pollution is also becoming huge problem for many animals, especially animals that live in our oceans and seas. Because of the increased ship traffic and offshore oil drilling noise pollution has started affecting very large number of marine animals. Whales and dolphins are among animals most affected by noise pollution. This is because they use their sense of hearing for many purposes such as hunting for prey, navigation, migration and distinguishing the members of the same species and with so many artificial sounds in our oceans they are having tough time to distinguish them all.

Soil pollution

Soil pollution occurs due to incorporation of unwanted chemicals in the soil due to human activities. Use of insecticides and pesticides absorbs the nitrogen compounds from the soil making it unfit for plants to derive nutrition from. Release of industrial waste, mining and deforestation also exploits the soil. Since plants can’t grow properly, they can’t hold the soil and this leads to soil erosion - See more at: http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/PollutionTypes.php#sthash.tkp2ylEU.dpuf

Litering

Littering can also lead to death of many animals because of toxic substances in trash (for instance motor oil, detergents, pesticides) that once eaten by animals often lead to their deaths. Animals can also die by getting themselves entangled in many of the litter items people dump into our environment.

Radioactive Pollution

Radioactive pollution is highly dangerous when it occurs. It can occur due to nuclear plant malfunctions, improper nuclear waste disposal, accidents, etc. It causes cancer, infertility, blindness, defects at the time of birth; can sterilise soil and affect air and water. - See more at: http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/PollutionTypes.php#sthash.tkp2ylEU.dpuf

Thermal Pollution

Thermal/heat pollution is due to the excess heat in the environment creating unwanted changes over long time periods; due to huge number of industrial plants, deforestation and air pollution. It increases the earth’s temperature, causing drastic climatic changes and extinction of wildlife. - See more at: http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/PollutionTypes.php#sthash.tkp2ylEU.dpuf

Light Pollution

Light pollution occurs due to prominent excess illumination of an area. It is largely visible in big cities, on advertising boards and billboards, in sports or entertainment events at the night. In residential areas the lives of the inhabitants is greatly affected by this. It also affects the astronomical observations and activities by making the stars almost invisible. - See more at: http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/PollutionTypes.php#sthash.tkp2ylEU.dpuf

Summary

By reducing all forms of environmental pollution on our planet we could save millions of animals but sadly world is currently not doing enough, and pollution issue is therefore constantly growing in size. Add to this climate change and deforestation and you'll soon realize why so many animals are finding it very hard to survive.