Maria DiToppa – Staff Writer

mnd5300@psu.edu

Climate change is the main driver of evolution and eventually mass extinction. The current rate of climate change is being accelerated by humans in many ways, affecting all forms of life in different ways. 

Greenhouse gasses are becoming more and more concentrated in the atmosphere each day, increasing the average temperature. Climate change in Erie, P.A. could impact the ecology by the increasing global temperatures affecting aquatic species in Lake Erie, decreasing air quality, construction of roads Downtown, acid precipitation,  and decreasing population size of species. 

Erie is known for many things, one major one being Lake Erie itself. Lake Erie is home to many aquatic ecosystems. This increase in temperature could potentially harm the ecology of aquatic animals in Lake Erie. Organisms only operate optimally in a specific range of temperatures. With increasing temperatures, this can impact an organism’s ability to perform necessary functions for survival. This could lead to a species going endangered, and possibly even extinct. 

If you have ever been to Downtown Erie, you will witness a sea of buildings and factories with smoke stacks, or maybe even trains or trucks emitting black smoke. With the constant construction of roads in Erie, many machines are used such as; cranes, bulldozers, and dump trucks. All of these are producing smoke. This air pollution is extremely bad for our air quality. A huge impact that can happen because of this overtime is poor lung function in humans. This could be fatal for individuals with breathing conditions, such as asthma. 

Erie PA is also home to the Amtrak train station. During the production of train engines, compounds are released into the atmosphere that may form acidic precipitation. This is bad for a number of reasons, one being this getting into Lake Erie. Some species of aquatic organisms have reduced fitness in water with a lower pH. This also can impact an organism’s ability to perform functions. This could lead to a species going endangered and possibly extinct, too. 

The geography of Downtown Erie is not ideal for many species. With factories, trains, and automobiles constantly releasing toxins into the environment, populations near the city, especially by factories and buildings, will decrease in size. This can lead to more serious problems such as low genetic diversity, large allee effect, and inbreeding which can lead to endangered or even extinct species. They also can experience inbreeding depression, a reduction in fitness due to more instances of deleterious homozygous recessive traits, and reduced advantage. 

What can we do about this? As a community we can protest oil drilling, deforestation, and the extreme use of greenhouse gasses. We can also protest overfishing in Lake Erie as well. We can also spread awareness by using our resources such as social media. 

This is an ongoing global issue, the faster we start to make a change, the better our planet will be over time. It is necessary to take steps to combat the effects climate change will have on our ecosystems.