Air Pollution Impacts on Health: Animals

Animals can be directly affected by air pollution in three ways. They can breathe in gases or small particles just like humans can, eat particles in food or water, or absorb gases through the skin. Earthworms and other soft-bodied invertebrates, or animals with thin, moist skin are the ones mainly affected by absorbing pollution.

Ground-level ozone can be harmful to animals in many of the same ways that it's harmful to humans. Air pollution also affects the breathing of animals. Particulates can cause many problems for wildlife. Particulates can be especially dangerous when they contain metal, in which case they can build up at high levels in the body tissues of animals.

There are also indirect effects of pollution that impact wildlife. Acid rain changes the acidity of the water that animals live in and drink from and can decrease the amount of trees that provide shelter, which both create serious problems for wildlife.

Global warming is also a big threat to wildlife. There are tons of web sites dedicated to providing information on the threats that are facing wildlife in the midst of today's changing climate. To research this topic more in depth go to http://www.panda.org/climate/. 

Or for an interesting article that was published in January of 2003, click here.