Acid Rain Has Turned Canadian Lakes into a Kind of Jelly

[Veganhealedme]

Source: MSN News

CityLab
John Metcalfe

Swimmers who dive into any number of Canadian lakes might not emerge clean and refreshed, but dripping with globs that resemble slimy fish eggs. A legacy of industrial pollution has caused great changes in the country's water chemistry, creating a boom in tiny organisms that transform lakes into "jelly."

That's the gooey news from scientists behind a new paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, who say that populations of this particular organism have doubled since the 1980s in many of Ontario's lakes. The reasons involve a complex dance of species, but here's the short version: Acid rain caused by smelting operations and other human activity removed calcium from the soil in drainage areas. That depleted the calcium levels in many lakes, which has hurt a kind of plankton (Daphnia) that needs the element to build armor. Enter a competing plankton, Holopedium, which requires far less calcium to bulk up and is coated with a gel that's excellent at repelling predators.

Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/acid-rain-has-turned-canadian-lakes-into-a-kind-of-jelly/ar-BBeEChx

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Mankind's activities are changing the physiology of this planet, for the worse.

The above article is just more proof.

[KamaAina]

1. Also in GD

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025839491

[jtuck004]

2. Cool. Jello pudding without the Jello. Straight from the tap.

We really are our own worst enemy.

[Veganhealedme]

6. Amoeba flavored too! mmmmmm

You're spot on correct about us being our own worst enemy.

[spinbaby]

18. Yum

Brain-eating amoeba.

[still_one]

3. we give em acid rain, they give us a pipeline, wonderful

[NickB79]

4. One step towards the Amoebic Sea of Darwin IV

http://aliens.wikia.com/wiki/Amoebic_sea

The Amoebic Sea is a vast, gelatinous superorganism blanketing about 5% of the surface of planet Darwin IV. With an overall profundity of ten meters, the Amoebic Sea is the largest single colony organism known.

Located mainly on the northern hemisphere, the "sea" is composed of billions of single-celled organisms. Although the sea matrix is eaten by many kinds of faunal organisms (living both on the sea and the coast), the Amoebic Sea is also a predator itself, being able to extend long tentacles out of its surface and capture small flying organisms to eat. It is also assumed that when a creature dies in the sea, it soon becomes food to the superorganism.

The planet of Darwin IV once had grand oceans, but its water slowly evaporated over the eons, leading to the evolution of the Amoebic Sea, which is able to retain water within itself. All the water absorbed by the "sea" is sealed within the gelatinous matrix in order to prevent evaporation. Nowadays, Darwin IV has no large body of water, and most of the planet's water is found in the atmosphere, in the polar caps, or in the bodies of living creatures.

[Veganhealedme]

22. Interesting. Thank for posting. nt

[EEO]

5. We'll be responsible for our own extinction.

[Xipe Totec]

7. Call it K-Y cause we're screwed. nt

[Veganhealedme]

9. +1. Normally, I'd get a big laugh from it if the topic weren't as sad..

but i still got a chuckle. Sad but true.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

15. yeah.....I'd laugh too, if it weren't so sad.

It's worse than sad, really. if we hadn't overpopulated so bad, we could leave enough environment to be able to continue quality of life.

[valerief]

8. Gellakes. Gross. nt

[NYtoBush-Drop Dead]

10. Is this the same slime that covers the beaches of SOuth Carolina...

That's what it looked like in September at Kiawah.

[AverageJoe90]

11. Damn, nature is *weird* sometimes.

Anyway, hopefully someone can get those lakes cleaned up at some point.

[tabasco]

12. Nature is not weird at all

It is humans that are weird.

[BlueJazz]

13. "Enter a competing plankton, Holopedium, which requires far less calcium to bulk up"

I, for one, Welcome our new Holopedium Overlords.

.
.
.

[calimary]

21. Wow - is that the new mascot of the Democratic Party? Needs no calcium.

Obviously backbone isn't important with this little critter here. Must be a professional Dem. Sigh...

[Dont call me Shirley]

14. Let's try this idea: Imprison the owners, CEOs, Boards of Directors of polluting corporations.

Seize their assets. Use their assets to pay for intensive clean up,including training personnel and safety equipment. Don't grant licenses for polluting companies to operate.

[Veganhealedme]

16. All of that should be law, strictly enforced too.

With LONG prison sentences and massive fines. I like the idea of seizing assets to pay for cleanup.

[Dont call me Shirley]

17. Not only the corporate assets, but the personal assets of the life destroying criminals also.

That should cover lots of good paying jobs, plenty of investment money for clean energy and a return to total organic farming.

[Veganhealedme]

19. Yes, corporate greed is fueled by the robber barons..

that run said corporations. The CEO's and board members. Top investors too.

Hit both the corporate AND personal assets of these robber baron criminals.

[Dont call me Shirley]

20. This is what they fear most. Their "precious".

[blkmusclmachine]

23. Harper did it. Him, and a complicit "opposition" party, both culpable

for allowing these crimes against the environment to roll on year after year after year...