Normal, clean rain has a pH value of between 5.0 and 5.5, which is slightly acidic. However, when rain combines with sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides—produced from power plants and automobiles—the rain becomes much more acidic. Typical acid rain has a pH value of 4.0.
Phytoplankton serves as food for virtually all the organisms living in an aquatic environment. It is a primary food producer and serves as the foundation of aquatic food web. If there is a decline in the amount of phytoplankton, the organisms which feed directly on the plant may reduce significantly as a result of dire competition for food, this in turn will affect the organisms which feed on the dying out organisms and the trend will move in a similar way until it affect all the organisms living in that particular aquatic habitat.
