The answer to the question decades ago would include an extensive description of a rich living environment. This single mass of saltwater, called the “global ocean”, covers 70% of the planet’s surface and is one of the main climate regulators. What about living organisms? According to recent research, scientists at the University of Washington discovered organisms that breathe arsenic. This is a strategy that marine organisms follow in conditions with limited oxygen. An incredible movement of adaptability that shows that nature can survive even with the contribution of the negative side of human interventions. But why should we push nature to extremes?
Water quality is directly affected by discharges, such as from factories or sewage treatment plants, called ‘point sources of pollution’. It can also be affected by pollution from diffuse sources, such as nutrients and pesticides from agricultural activities and pollutants released by industry into the atmosphere and subsequently dumped on land and sea, the so-called ‘diffuse pollution’.
The peculiarity of the season has given its own color to aquatic and coastal ecosystems, aggravating the already existing problem. It is estimated that the ocean has been burdened with thousands of extra tonnes due to the pandemic and according to researchers from the School of Atmospheric Sciences of Nanjing University and the Institute Oceanography Scripps of the University of California, a large percentage of the 30% class will end up on the coast, while the rest 70% over time will be part of the seabed.