Pollution and Human Impact

Lichen is a symbiotic association between algae and fungi known as phycobiont and mycobiont component respectively. Lichens are very good pollution indicators as they do not grow in SO$ _2$ polluted environments.

A virus is a simple submicroscopic parasite of plants, animals, and bacteria in well water that can cause disease. It consists essentially of a core of RNA or DNA surrounded by a protein coat. Viruses are not living organisms and are unable to replicate without a host cell. Some viral infections often associated with drinking or bathing in contaminated water include:

Gastroeneritus – Causes diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, fever, and abdominal pain.

Cryptosporidiosis – Causes flu-like symptoms, diarrhea, weight loss, bloating, and nausea.

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are toxic chemicals that resist degradation and can travel long distances, often contaminating groundwater and soil.

Industrial pollution contaminates many sources of drinking water, releases unwanted toxins into the air and reduces the quality of soil all over the world. Major environmental disasters have been caused due to industrial mishaps, which have yet to be brought under control. From the given options, electronics industry does not spread water pollution.

The effect caused by industries, railways, explosions, and commotion in the cities, aircraft, etc., can be felt on animals and birds. Noise emissions caused by supersonic aircraft, railway noise emissions etc may cause miscarriage in mammals, fishes, and birds.

Non-biodegradable pollutants refer to toxic pollutants that are not degraded or decomposed naturally into less harmful compounds. Humans are the primary source of producing non-biodegradable pollutants. These pollutants include heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury and lead, polythene, synthetic fibres and DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane).

Waste that cannot be broken down by other living organisms is called as non-biodegradable. Non-biodegradable substances affect the environment. They may enter the food chain and harm the organisms in the higher trophic levels (by biomagnification), e.g., pesticides, like DDT, non-biodegradable substances like radioactive wastes, lead, mercury etc., affect the health of all living organisms. 

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is an organochlorinated chemical used as an insecticide. This compound is highly stable in the environment. It readily stays in the adipose tissues of the living organisms and accumulates at the successive trophic level to cause the biomagnification. In soil, it is not acted upon by the decomposing bacteria so it remains persistent for years. Due to its nonbiodegradable nature, it became a major pollutant of the agricultural soil. Its use was banned by the Stockholm Convention of 2001.

A non-biodegradable pollutant is the one that could not be broken down or decomposed by the decomposing fungi and bacteria present in the water and soil. DDT is an organochlorinated compound used as an insecticide that is chemically stable. It does not dissolve in water rather it mixes with the adipose tissue in the living organisms and persists in the food chain, causing biomagnification. In the soil, it destroys the microbial fauna. 

Lead is a heavy metal that does not break down through biological processes in the environment. Sewage, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides can be processed or absorbed by natural systems, whereas lead persists as a toxic pollutant.

biodegradable wastes are those wastes which easily gets degraded into simpler molecules over a period of time by microorganisms. Biodegradable wastes include human organic wastes, nutrients wastes etc.whereas nonbiodegradable substances accumulate in the environment and causes pollution. These wastes also sometimes accumulate in an organism when the feed upon them and through biomagnification reaches the higher concentration in higher groups.

One of the side effects of developing civilisation can be observed in the form of presence of non-biodegradable material which cannot be broken down into simple, harmless substance by the action of bacteria. They are lethal to land where they are dumped and last for centuries, burning of them release poisonous gases injurious to human and animals health in various possible ways. Entry of such substances pollute water bodies because of their non-depleting nature they occupy space in water bodies and consumed by animals causing severe health condition and death. Polythene, plastic is some deadly non-biodegradable waste.

DDT is an organochlorine pollutant used as insecticides and has several environmental impacts. Chemicals in DDT do not degrade easily and remain in the soil for a long time after its application because it cannot be broken down by the action of microorganism and thus persists and is lethal to human and animal life.

Plastics is burnt which releases toxic gases like Dioxins, Furans, Mercury and Polychlorinated Biphenyls into the atmosphere. Further, burning of Poly Vinyl Chloride liberates hazardous halogens and pollutes the air, the impact of which is climate change. The toxic substances thus released are posing a threat to vegetation, human and animal health and environment as a whole. These gases cause air pollution only.