Peace and Environment News* June 1995
|
Peace and Environment News * June 1995 |
by Robin Round
It's a sad but sure sign of spring. "Ozone layer shrinks to near record low," proclaims the Globe and Mail, citing depletion levels of 10 to 20 percent across Canada.
When the ozone thins and ultraviolet radiation (UV) increases, we hear of the increased risks of skin cancer, cataracts, and immunosuppression. We are warned to stay out of the sun, or to put on our hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen. Minimal attention, however, is being paid to the potentially most devastating effect of stratospheric ozone depletion, the impact on the global ecosystem.
Little is known about how living creatures respond to long-term exposure to increased levels of UV. Small quantities of UV are essential for life as we know it, but too much can kill everything.
The few studies that have been done reveal that increased UV exposure stunts plant growth, affects reproduction and damages DNA. Sensitive animals are getting cancer and going blind. Most studies are done in laboratories which do not account for other environmental risk factors or the changes already occurring under a depleted ozone layer. Most studies are species specific and do not examine the cross-species impacts of increased UV nor the overall impact on the food web.
I spent six weeks in the Weddell Sea under the Antarctic ozone hole in 1993 as part of an international science team investigating the impact of increased UV on microscopic marine plants known as phytoplankton. We observed that certain species of phytoplankton appeared to be adapting to increased exposure to UV by forming into colonies, clumping together in an apparent effort to reduce surface area exposure to UV. This adaptive mechanism could potentially make the plants unpalatable to the shrimp-like krill that traditionally feed on them, forever changing the balance of the food web. Scientists were surprised to find no krill in the vicinity of the phytoplankton. I was surprised that no one was studying the krill.
This year hundreds of baby penguin chicks died of starvation in parts of Antarctica. Krill, their staple food, had suddenly become scarce. No one knows why. Surprisingly, no one is talking about the potential role of increased UV, even as the Antarctic ozone hole "celebrates" its ninth anniversary with depletion levels reaching 80 percent.
In the summer of 1994, I was part of a research team looking at impacts of ozone depletion on the fragile freshwater ecosystems of Canada's High Arctic for the first time. Our research was very preliminary, designed to establish baselines for future work. I was surprised that no one had begun this important work earlier, and am disturbed that it will not be continued this summer.
The need to make research into the ecosystem impacts of ozone depletion a global research priority cannot be overstated. We will never know what has been lost if we do not know what we had. Large-scale integrated ecosystem studies are essential to help determine how our desire for refrigeration and air conditioning has forever changed life on this planet.
We cannot continue to remain blind to the impacts of our actions nor indifferent to the ecosystems that sustain us. What we don't know is already hurting us.
Robin Round is Ozone Campaigner at the Sierra Club of Canada, an environmental non-profit organization based in Ottawa. She is currently implementing "Zer-O-Zone," a community ozone protection project in Winnipeg.
Converted July 7, 2000 - Lg
To follow up on this article, contact the author or the organizations/individuals mentioned; do not contact the Peace and Environment Resource Centre - we cannot provide follow up or contact information. This article is an archival copy of the printed one in the Peace and Environment News (PEN). Viewpoints expressed should not be taken to represent the opinions of the Peace and Environment Resource Centre, the PEN, or our supporters.
