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Review the effect of acid rain on the local distributions of


The result is that streams, rivers, and lakes with high carbonate concentrations have a large neutralising capacity and typically are not susceptible to acidification. In areas where water moves through carbonate-poor rocks and soils, streams, rivers, and lakes have a lower neutralising ability and become acidified when the acidic materials in them exceed the neutralising capacity. This results in a drop in pH (May and Eilers, 1987).
             Waters with differing pH may be similar in appearance, yet the pH differentials influence the organisms within them rather significantly (May and Eilers, 1987).
             Acid rains' earliest and most dramatic effects on fish populations were recorded in southern Norway in the 1920's, where declines in salmon runs were correlated to increasing river acidity. Today, seven formerly important salmon streams in southern Norway have lost their runs, and a survey of over 2,000 lakes indicated that approximately one-third experienced fish population declines between 1940 and 1971 (Swenson and May, 1987).
             The loss of fish in North America was first seen in the La Cloche Mountain lakes of Ontario. These lakes received acid deposition from a large copper-nickel smelter. In the 1970's studies showed that 388 fish populations might have been lost from some 55 of these lakes. However, it was not possible to tell if changes in pH alone caused this because besides becoming acidic, these lakes showed increases in heavy metals from the smelter that can also harm fish. More recent research has documented the loss of fish populations from a smaller number of acidified lakes not influenced by the smelter (Swenson and May, 1987).
             According to Krebs (2001), the clearest effects of acid precipitation are in Scandinavia and eastern Canada'. He notes that In Canada, lakes containing trout have been the principle focus for research on the effects of acid rain. Lake trout disappear in lakes once the pH falls below 5.


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