Ocean phytoplankton and algae produce 70-80% of the earths atmospheric oxygen. Why is tree conservation for oxygen so popular over ocean conservation then?
In: Biology
It’s not so much about O2 creation but more about desertification. TreesThere is a point of no return retain moisture and stabilize the ground.
Tree conservation isn’t just about oxygen. It’s also habitat preservation especially for birds.
Only the trees you can see from major roads. Everything else gets cut down. It’s so you don’t have to do anything but look at the narrow band of trees around developed areas and feel like you are doing something
Because humans live above-water, and the impacts are less visible to the average person than wildfires, weird weather patterns, and a lack of “development” underwater in comparison to farming / housing above sea-level.
because the goal of most conservation is to appear to be doing something without hurting the bottom line of big businesses that fund them. for other examples see air pollution regulations – cars these days are very efficient and a tiny drop in the bucket of total air pollution but thet get the most attention because trying to improve industrial air pollution hurts business
How do we help our algae?
I always thought we pushed for tree conservation more so to protect the wildlife that lives in them than for preservation of oxygen.
It’s an easier sell. “Save the trees that you look at every day are pretty” vs “save the algae”
I’m by no means an expert, but while in college I worked on a project for a local aquarium (for one of the Great Lakes). My hazy memory is that while algae and other water-based plants do produce more oxygen than trees, they pull that oxygen out of the water to do so. If the water has too much algae the fish can actually “suffocate” because the oxygen levels in the water are too low.
The really terrible thing is that when the ocean temp rises the phytoplankton will descend about 4cm below where they photosynthesise to stay in their prime temperature range and no longer provide the same level of oxygen for the planet
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