Acid Rain - 4 Essay

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Pages: 11
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Abstract:

Acidification of rain -water is recognized as one of the most severe environmental problems brought forth by air pollution. Burning of fossil fuels, industrialization, and urbanization have been responsible for the increase in gaseous sulphur and nitrogen emissions in the atmosphere, which combine with water molecules to deploy acidic precipitation on vegetation. Acid rain has been known to contribute to altercations in plant species’ physiology and chemical makeup. Altercations include a plant’s growth rate, leaf damage, seed germination, and soil composition. Acidification to a plant’s surrounding soil can lead to nutrient deprivation and a release of toxins within the soil, which correlate to growth inhibition and decay in the species. Although some species of plants have little to no effects from acid rain, the majority of plant species ‘ structure and function become damaged.

Introduction:

In today’s world, various natural resources have been utilized in industry settings for sufficient energy use. However, the burning of coal, oil, and other natural gases (sulfur dioxide and nitric oxides) results in the release of harmful substances into the atmosphere. These chemical gases then react with water, oxygen, nitrogen, and other substances present in the atmosphere to form acid ran with the products of sulfuric and nitric acid (Shan Y, et al. 1996). Once formed in the atmosphere, winds have the ability to spread these acidic solutions hundreds of miles. Air pollution has become one of the most serious environmental issues due to the formation of acid rain, which has harmful effects on plant growth and prosperity. This is currently becoming a big problem throughout North America, China, and Europe, where forest productivity has been reduced tremendously (Liu TW, Wu FW, Wang WH 2011). It is necessary to investigate whether or not acid rain is the main contributing factor in plant destruction, how plant species protect themselves from the acidic stress, and how plants are affected by it. Acid rain has many effects on the physiology of plants and trees. These effects include modification of epicuticular wax layers, which may lead to necrosis (dead spots) on leaves, inhibition of seed germination, growth reduction, photosynthesis rates, changes in protective enzyme activity, and secretions of toxins in soils (Da Silva LC, et al. 2005). Soil is one of the most important ecological factors affected by acid rain. During the acidification of soil, an exchange takes place between hydrogen ions and nutrient cations, Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca), and Magnesium (Mg), present in the soil. Acid deposition can deplete these soil cations, which leads to nutrient deficiency, and thus a decrease in plant growth due to the loss of soil fertility (Liu TW, et al. 2011). The effect acid rain has on each plant species varies. Plants differ in chlorophyll content (photosynthesis activity), cuticle thickness (protective layer on leaves), adaptive tolerance (location), enzyme activity, and root systems. These attributes all contribute to how each plant species will react to acid rain, and determine how much of an effect acidic environments have on them. Some plant species are able to respond to acidic rain with no significant alterations, while other species are more susceptible to stress from acid rain.

Discussion:
Effects on Plant Soil Plants depend on soil for both their nutrition and water supply. They obtain their nutrients from element ions such as calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and potassium (K) that dissolved from rocks into the soil (Ling DJ, et al. 2010). Acid rain displaces these nutritional ions by adding hydrogen ions, which can either wash the ions out from the soil or penetrate them deep into inaccessible soil for plant root use. Increasing amounts of acid solution to soil can also trigger the activation of aluminum (Al) ions that are present in a non-toxic form of aluminum hydroxide. It changes to toxic
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