Oil Spills...Yucky and Deadly...

Humans have great potential to change the environment in just a short period of time. By changing the environment, we are also greatly impacting the things that live there. As "stewards of the world", we are not doing a very good job of taking care of our planet and maintaining biodiversity in our ecosystems. Sometimes our negative impacts may just be accidents, but most of the time, we are carelessly doing what we do, without considering the consequences of our actions.

One major human intervention that has negatively affected our ecosystems' biodiversity is oil spills. In most cases of oil spills, the oil is either gasoline or crude oil. These spills, coming from ships, land runoffs, waste dumps, and more, have become a major issue in water bodies all around the world. Although they are not intentional (hopefully..), there is not enough action being taken to rid water bodies of this harmful substance. As soon as an oil spill occurs, people should get right on the case to clean it up, so that it doesn't spread and affect the organisms that live in the area. Many oil spills could be prevented if only they are cleaned up fast enough. However, most of the time, these spills are just left in the water, which spreads all over the place and ends up along shores. Here is a video of one of many oil spills that were left unattended, which in turn, became almost impossible to fully clean up.

There are many different organisms affected by oil spills and there are many different ways that these organisms can be affected. All animals living in the area of an oil spill are exposed to the dangers of the harmful substance. Organisms such as filter-feeders can easily get their feeding and breathing mechanisms clogged if they encounter oil. This will result in their death, because obviously, organisms cannot live without eating or breathing. One reason to why killer whales are endangered is oil spills, because when their blowholes are plugged with oil, they cannot breath. Fishes often consume the oil from oil spills and this creates toxins in their body and would eventually kill them. This toxin is passed down the foodchain and ends up killing many other animals along the line. When birds try to take a shower in the water (not knowing that there is oil in there), they end up completely covered in oil. This would result in them trying to clean themselves by licking off the oil, which in the end, kills them, just like the fishes. All marine animals and many kinds of birds are exposed to the danger of consuming the oil from oil spills. This oil can even cause cancer in them! How terrible is that! Many of these animals may become closer to the endangered species list if oil spills keep invading their habitats without being cleaned up.

Animals can suffer and die from oil spills even without consuming it. When birds are covered in thick oil, it would be hard for them to fly due to the heaviness of the oil. Also, animals often become blind when the oil enters their eyes. This makes them more vulnerable to predators, since they cannot see where they're going. When animals, such as sea otters, get covered in oil, their air bubbles will be blocked. This will take away their abilities to stay warm, which means that they can no longer survive in the cold oceans. If one animal becomes extinct due to oil spills, a whole group of animals may be next in line. For example, when hundreds of plankton die because of oil spills, fishes in that area will no longer have food, followed by the killer whales. When oil spills kill one kind of animal, it can damage an entire food chain.

One major oil spill incident occurred in the year of 1989 in Prince William Sound of Alaska. The Exxon Valdez, an oil tank completely loaded with crude oil, hit a reef not far from two different shores. This incident caused 11 million gallons of crude oil to be spilled! There were not enough efforts to clean up this spill, so this incident alone was able to endanger many species in that area. Twenty tons of dead birds and sea animals have been collected along the 550 miles of the beach! If the company hired people right away to clean up the spill, a big majority of these animals would not have died.

It is such a pity to watch so many animals die as an outcome of human carelessness. Although some oil spill cases have been dealt with, there is still a lot more to be done about them. As said before, humans have much potential to change the environment in just a short period of time, so why don't we use this potential to make some positive changes? Humans have become such spoiled creatures thinking that they can live off the planet without contributing to it. Well, little do many of us know how much our ways are wreaking havoc in the environment. If we don't start picking up our pace in undoing all the damage we have already done, the biodiversity of our planet will be in great danger!

Sources:

"Effects on marine life"

http://www.murrenhil.com/index.phy?id=R

"Endangered Species Handbook"

http://www.endangeredspecieshandbook.org/aquatic_oil.php

"Human Impact"

http://www.gma/org/surfing/human/impact.html

"Man and His Environment"

http://www.biol.andrews.edu/everglades/ecosystems/human_impact/human_impact_index.html

"Oil Spills"

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/oil_spills.htm

Commented on:

"Humans: Invasive and Stewards?" by Jenny Yeung.

http://the-nature-of-life.blogspot.com/

"Global Warming and Biodiversity" by Vanessa Valsan.

http://valsanbioblog.blogspot.com/