"ALTERED
OCEANS" |
A five-part series on the Crisis in the Seas
by Kenneth R. Weiss and Usha Lee McFarling (LA Times staff
writers and reporters), photography and video by Rick Loomis
(LA Time photographers). Reprinted with
permission.
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PART ONE
Video: Slow Suffication
Low-oxygen "dead zones" are
spreading as fertilizer use and deforestation grow, and
coastal populations bloom.
SEGMENTS: The Tipping Point; Perfect Slime; "Jellyball"
Man
Story: A
Primeval Tide of Toxins
Runoff from modern life is feeding
an explosion of primitive organisms. This 'rise of slime,' as
it is called by one scientist, is killing larger species.
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PART TWO
Video: Sentinels
Under Attack
Toxic algae that poison the brain have
caused standings and mass die-offs of marine mammals --
barometers of th sea's health.
SEGMENTS: Invisible Killer; Razor's Edge
Story: Toxic
Bloom
High levels of the algae-product
toxin domoic acid have been found off the mouths of
the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers. USC researchers
are trying to determine whether the river discharges
cause the toxic blooms that poison sea life.
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PART THREE
Video: State
of red tides
Florida has experienced many harmful
algae blooms in recent years. Scientist use imagery of
chlorophyll concentratrions to estimate the extent of outbreaks,
like the on in 2004.
SEGMENTS: Fade to Green; Toxic Tide; Manatee's New threat
Story: Dark
Tides, III Winds
With sickening regularity, toxic
algae blooms are invading coastal waters. They kill sea
life and send poisons ashore on the breeze, forcing residents
to flee.
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PART FOUR
Video: The
trash latitudes
Plastic debris and other flotsam
washed off land and dumped at sea trapped for decades
in swirling waters called gyres, but known informally
as garbage trashes. The one off the Western U.S. is
about twice the size of Texas. A smaller gyre is Sought
of Japan.
SEGMENTS: Trashing Our Oceans; The Plastic Diet
Story: Sea
Preserves a Plastic Plague
Gargabe swirling for decades off the U.S.
and Japan makes its way to the most remorte locales. On Midway
Atoll, 40% of albatross chicks die, their bellies full of trash.
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PART FIVE
Photo Gallery : A
Bleak Future
Coral reefs, which are important
fish habitats, grow only in waters that contain enough
of the chemical building blocks needed for strong skeletons.
Corals are already besieged by pollution and higher
ocean temperatures.
SEGMENTS: Endangered World
Story: A
Chemical Imbalance
Growing seawater acidity treatens to wipe
out coral, fish and other crucial species worldwide.
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here. |
