To What Extent Does Acid Precipitation Affect Annelids?

To What Extent Does Acid Precipitation Affect Annelids?
In order to truly understand acid rain and it's eventual effect onearthworms, it would be best to look at the causes of acid rain. How andwhy does altered acidity in precipitation have a devastating effect? Acid rain is charecterized as "Precipitation that has a pH lower than about5.0" (Allaby, Michael (1994) Ecology, Oxford Press,). Acid rain is createdby many things, of which pollution from cars contributes the most. Eversince the Industrial revolution, the acidity of rain has been haywire.Sulfur and nitrogen are found widely throughout the world in the air, "evenin unindustrialized tropics" (Graedel, Thomas, et. al, (1989, V261 n3 p.58-68 Sep. 1989) The Changing Atmosphere, Scientific American). The way in which acid rain is created from here is that About 70 percentof acid rain comes from sulphur dioxide (SO2), which dissolves into thewater to form sulphuric acid. The rest comes from various oxides of nitrogen(mainly NO2 and NO3, collectively called NOx). These gases are producedalmost entirely from burning fossil fuels, mainly in power satations androad transport. (Kucera, (1973) The Challenge of Ecology, The MosbyCompany.) Tremendous quantities of this nitric acid and sulfuric acid mix arereflected in the lowering of the acidity of rain. Earthworms (Annelids) are a species of worm which are many segmented. Theylive in damp soil, usually forming intricate tunnels beneath the surface.Their bodies are lon...

To What Extent Does Acid Precipitation Affect Annelids?

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