How does the effect of acid rain on trees and soild affect us?
Sulphur dioxide can react with water vapour and other chemicals in the air to form very fine particles of sulphate. These airborne particles form a key component of urban smog and are now recognized as a significant health hazard. http://www.ec.gc.ca/acidrain/acidhealth.html What happens when lakes and aquatic systems become acidic? Lakes that have been acidified cannot support the same variety of life as healthy lakes. As a lake becomes more acidic, crayfish and clam populations are the first to disappear, then various types of fish. Many types of plankton-minute organisms that form the basis of the lake’s food chain-are also affected. As fish stocks dwindle, so do populations of loons and other water birds that feed on them. The lakes, however, do not become totally dead. Some life forms actually benefit from the increased acidity. Lake-bottom plants and mosses, for instance, thrive in acid lakes. So do blackfly larvae. Not all lakes that are exposed to acid rain become acidified. In
