Food chains affected by acid rain

Acid Rain affects our lives much more than you think. Acid rain is rainfall made with acid from our atmospheric pollution. It is one of the after affects of having a polluted atmosphere.

Acid Rain effects every single being on earth. It has a detrimental effect on wildlife and the natural environments such as forest lakes and ponds.  

As shown in the picture above a food chain works from the bottom to top. The grass is eaten by the rabbits, the rabbits are eaten by the snakes and the snakes are eaten by the hawk.

When Acid rain enters the system it first starts from the producers such as grass, trees and flowers. Then once the Consumers such as small animals, insects eat the grass the acid rain levels grow larger. 

For example, the insects that the fish in the birds mouth must have had some sort of contact with acid rain. Weather it ate the insects on the surface of the water or simply used the acidic water from the river to breathe, the fish was contaminated with acidic water. Once the bird digests the fish it will now have a higher concentration of the acidic water because of biomagnification.

Now here is how we are affected by the acidic rain. Humans are just a vulnerable as any other animal, we are on the food chain as well. Same as the bird we are eating the fish. Once we eat the fish we will be contaminated. With the biomagnification in place we have the higher risk of suffering from the contamination seeing as humans are at the top of the food chain.

The pH of rain water is suppose to be 7 but in very industrial places where the pollutants get into the air, the pH is almost always less than 5 which can be very dangerous for any wildlife around the area. The acidity in the water is mostly from dissolved CO2.   2H2O(l) + 3CO2(g) --> 2H2CO3(aq) This is the balanced equation of what happens in the clouds to create the acidic water.

For humans we do have the ability to last longer than most animals and if not we do have health facilities. In the wild birds and animals are on their own. The concentration in some animals is so high that within a few days after eating the contaminated animal they die. It is a harsh reality but in the end it is humans to blame. Putting pollutants in the air does create climate change but it also does create pollutants that travel through rain and into our lakes and streams. In the end it is all connected what goes around comes around. We put the pollutants in the air and the pollutants come right back.