Jokes aside, this is something a little different to make this blog assignment more fun. I hope you guys enjoyed it! This is a prelude to a bigger post on Harmful Algal Blooms.
While the themes represented in this audio play may have been intended as comedic drama, the reality of it is much less humorous yet no less true: As agriculture continues to contribute to nutrient pollution in order to push yields higher on long degraded soils, such occurrences (i.e. phytoplankton using fertiliser nutrients meant for crops) will only increase in frequency. Resulting in massive losses in biodiversity and ecosystem services. And despite our best efforts to stop this through research and management, it may come as too little too late.
In my next post I will be discussing in detail Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) as a consequence of nutrient pollution, we will be looking at the algae themselves to find out how something so small can cause us such big problems along with some case studies to learn about the mechanism of action that makes HABs so devastating and finally potential solutions to the eutrophication problem.
Till next time, I gotta get back to work on my thesis before my anxiety catches up!
Transcript
On the last episode of Feeding the World, Poisoning the Earth:
“You have stolen my nutrients for the last time Diatomicus! The gift of fertility from the Farmers belong to neither you nor your ilk.”
“Steal? You call yourself the cream of the crop, yet you couldn’t contain all the nutrients the Farmers bestowed upon your kind. It had nowhere to go… Except to us.”
“You won’t get away with this you planktonic parasite! The Farmers will use their Science to stop the Algal Clan.”
“On the contrary Oryza, my people grow stronger by the day, our neurotoxins will purge this river of life and the Farmers will finally pay for ignoring us. Ironic. It was the blessings the Farmers showered upon their favored children that will lead to their downfall.”
Voice Credits:
- Marcia Lee: Oryza (a pun on the scientific name of rice), Narrator
- Me: Diatomicus (a Diatom)