Air, Animals, & Plants

Air pollution impacts animals and plants through a variety of pathways - directly through the air and indirectly through the water and soil. Air Quality Awareness Week is a great time to learn how air pollution impacts our ecosystems and the work that EPA is doing to protect air quality and our ecosystems.

An ecosystem is a community of plants, animals and other organisms, along with their environment, including the air, water and soil. Air pollutants can cause many environment effects to ecosystems. Everything in an ecosystem is connected. If something harms one part of an ecosystem - one species of plant or animal, the soil or the water - it can have an impact on everything else.

Aquatic environments such as streams, lakes, marshes, and coastal waters are often impacted by air pollutants. Acid rain, also known as acid deposition, formed from nitrogen, sulfur, and other compounds, can cause damage to lakes and streams, impacting the fish and other wildlife within these ecosystems. As it flows through the soil, acidic rainwater can leach aluminum from soil particles and then flow into streams and lakes. The more acid that is introduced to the ecosystem, the more aluminum is released. Some types of plants and animals are able to tolerate acidic waters and moderate amounts of aluminum. Others, however, are acid-sensitive and will be lost as the pH declines. 

EPA researchers are exploring the dynamic interrelationships between natural ecosystems and air quality — advancing our understanding of how air pollution can negatively impact forests, lakes, and other natural ecosystems and the benefits they provide. Learn more about how EPA researchers are delivering tools, data, and information necessary to accurately account for ecosystem services in decisions, and to help advance healthy, sustainable, and more prosperous communities visiting EPA's Ecosystems Research website.