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Ocean Warming, Acidification, Plastic Pollution, and Water Quality Deterioration
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This book chapter reviewed how ocean warming, acidification, and plastic pollution interact to degrade marine water quality, emphasizing that all three stressors have anthropogenic origins and compound each other's effects on marine biodiversity. The authors surveyed technological and policy solutions from ocean-based renewable energy and carbon capture to waste management and AI-powered monitoring to address these intersecting challenges.
The Earth's oceans, vast and enigmatic, have long captivated human imaginations with their depths teeming with life. Since the Industrial Revolution, anthropogenic impacts on natural systems have constantly intensified, especially on marine systems. Although most stressors have an anthropogenic origin and occur worldwide, they present different characteristics on which they may be managed. Yet, beneath ocean surfaces lies a profound and intricate crisis – a convergence of challenges that threaten all biological realms and associated marine and coastal environments. This chapter embarks on the intensities and effects of ocean warming, acidification, and plastic pollution-induced water quality deterioration, revealing their interconnectedness and underscoring the urgency of our response. Due to increasing atmospheric CO 2 , the world's oceans are warming and slowly becoming more acidic (ocean acidification), and profound changes in marine ecosystems are certain. Calcification is one of the primary targets for studies of the impact of CO 2 -driven climate change in the oceans. Plastic pollution is ubiquitous in the ocean but causes the most serious harm near coastlines and during its journey toward open waters. The formation of oxygen-depleted dead zones and toxic algal blooms narrate the threats of a compromised aquatic realm due to ocean water quality deterioration. Managing waste and litter streams better, eliminating unnecessary products, ensuring adequate waste management systems are in place, setting up a circular economy for plastic products and waste where possible, boosting recycling, and incinerating unrecyclable plastic waste for energy in conjunction with the development of carbon capture and storage technology help balancing the trade-off with greenhouse gas emissions. Ocean-based renewable energy sources like wave and tidal power can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, combating ocean warming. Carbon capture and storage systems can alleviate acidification by capturing CO 2 emissions from various sources. Advanced waste-removal technologies, including ocean cleanup vessels and AI-powered monitoring systems, aid in tackling plastic pollution. More stress ecology research is needed at the frontier between ecotoxicology and ecology, going beyond standardized tests using model marine species to address multiple water quality factors (pH, temperature, toxicants, etc.) and organisms’ health. These technologies, combined with global collaborations, blue economic strategies, and building awareness, can play a pivotal role in preserving the health and sustainability of Earth's oceans.
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Researchers review the bidirectional feedbacks between water pollution and climate change, showing how eutrophication, ocean acidification, hypoxia, and plastic pollution both respond to and accelerate warming through disrupted carbon and nitrogen cycling, greenhouse gas emissions, and reduced ocean carbon sequestration capacity.
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A comprehensive review identifies plastic pollution, nutrient eutrophication, chemical contaminants, and ocean noise as interconnected drivers of marine ecosystem degradation, with plastic gyres and long-range pollutant transport reaching even remote polar regions. This is foundational to microplastic research as it contextualizes microplastics within the broader multi-stressor marine pollution crisis that requires integrated regulatory and technological solutions.
Unraveling the Impacts of Ocean Plastic Pollution and Strategies for Effective Mitigation
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This review examines the multifaceted impacts of ocean plastic pollution on marine life, water quality, and human activities, while surveying mitigation strategies ranging from waste management improvements and extended producer responsibility to clean-up technologies.
Water Pollution and Climate Change: Biogeochemical Linkages, Feedback Mechanisms, and the Compounding Crisis of the Anthropocene
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This review examines the bidirectional feedbacks between water pollution and climate change, showing how eutrophication, ocean acidification, and plastic pollution both respond to and amplify warming — and argues that these interlocking crises require integrated transdisciplinary responses rather than the historically siloed approaches of environmental science.
Pengidentifikasian Kualitas Air Laut Terkait Dengan Pengelolaan Limbah Plastik
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Researchers reviewed the relationship between plastic waste management practices and seawater quality indicators including pH, temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and biological oxygen demand (BOD5). The literature synthesis found that accumulation of macroplastics and microplastics in ocean environments contributes to local acidification, thermal changes, reduced dissolved oxygen, and elevated BOD5 levels.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.