Pros And Cons Of Eutrophication

The first example of human manipulation of changes within the biosphere is through expansion. The rapid growth of the population has led to expansion in development; the need for more space is causing strain on other living organisms such as plants and animals. Human procurement of forest, grass, and wetlands has weighed on the animal population heavily. As a result of this domination, animals have lost areas they use to thrive in, causing migration and in more serious cases extinction. Animals are a prevalent source of protein for humans, and when a species is threatened by extinction, it not only disrupts the balance of the ecosystem, but it also disrupts the food chain. The more resources that are required to sustain human life, the bigger the need to migrate to surrounding areas in a short period of time (Haines).

The use of too much fertilizers, and in particular, of fertilizers with high concentrations of nitrogen, has been linked to reduced biodiversity (Xiankai et al. 2010). It becomes necessary to consider the detrimental effects of high concentrations of fertilizer in the reduced spaces. Fertilizers are salts, and therefore high concentrations of fertilizers can deplete the plant from water.

Eutrophication is a concern in the Chesapeake Bay. Eutrophication is caused by excessive amounts of nutrients. Excessive nutrients in the bay have negative effects on the bay's ecosystem. The extra nutrients make the environment unbalanced. The extra nutrients cause a chain reaction that eventually kills most of the organisms in that area. This is what is known as a dead zone.

That is not to say we should give up. I believe the point Nixon is making is that our ecosystem is in a constant state of flux. If research is conducted based on attempting return to nitrogen and phosphorous concentrations to levels that were exhibited in the past, the research will only fail. The research into the causes and methods of correction must still occur, but realistic goal points should be set. Taking that into consideration, the best way to combat something like eutrophication is to first understand its causation. It is important to conduct research into the causes of eutrophication, is it higher concentrations of nitrogen that cause it, phosphorous, or a combination of both. In the following experiment I will look at the potential causes (nitrogen and phosphorous) of eutrophication in fresh water samples from two different sources. Does the degree of concentration of nitrogen and phosphorus added to fresh water samples from the Encanto Park Lake and Rio Salado River directly affect the rate of algal growth?

Ecosystems have a way of maintaining themselves under ordinary conditions but when a new factor is added that will most likely threaten the environment action needs to be put forth. Our environment is affected by many pollutants on a daily bases forming a threat to natural stability. For example some of the most polluted parts of the environment are bodies of water like that explained in our lab. Once pollution occurs animals can be affected in many ways even to the brink of death. In the lab the stream is getting pumped with salty potassium filled water that can kill daphnia, habitants of the stream, if the concentration gets too high. To prevent this a

Even though, fertilizers are needed to supply essential nutrients to the growth of plants; an excess of them is one of the major issues contributing to pollution in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Fertilizers are mainly composed of two elements: nitrogen and phosphorus.(4) Throughout the years, millions of pounds of this nutrients are applied all around the Chesapeake Bay Watershed; everything not absorbed by the soil or taken up by plants eventually reaches the Chesapeake Bay through storm-water runoff. This nutrients end up creating algae blooms in the water, which reduce the amount of sunlight available to underwater grasses; not allowing plants to photosynthesize and produce the food they need to survive. Algae then decomposes creating dead zones killing fish and other species since oxygen is needed for any organism to live. (5)

Dead zones develop due to excess nutrients getting into water causing eutrophication, which means over-enrichment. River runoff deposits these nutrients, which come from upstream, a large amount from agriculture of the Midwest. Nitrogen and phosphorus, the primary excess nutrients, are limiting nutrients to primary producers, such as phytoplankton, that live in the surface oceans. Since those elements are limiting nutrients, an elevated influx of them will cause an explosion of productivity called an

Spanning lengths over 300,000 meters, this it is a watershed that extends over six states, the District of Columbia, and meets the needs of over 15 million individuals. With its high rate of productivity, its economic and social importance to the surrounding areas, and its close proximity to the U.S. capital, the Chesapeake has the recipient of significant attention for quite some time(Boesch, Donald). One of the issues that threatens this important estuary is eutrophication. For the majority of the 20th century, research, guidelines, and management activity were focused on other issues like wetland loss, over harvesting of fisheries, infectious wastes, etc (Davidson et al, 1997). It took until the final quarter of the century for widespread realization to hit that eutrophication had deteriorated the Bay, with extreme consequences for the Bay’s resources(Malone et al., 1993). After awareness of the impact of eutrophication on water bodies began to increase, when it came to making policies and managing the Chesapeake Bay, eutrophication reduction took precedence over any other issues. As the Bay remains a very important body of water, the significance of understanding one of the major processes responsible for its degradation remains as well. This paper aims to understand the contributing factors of eutrophication in the Chesapeake Bay, with a special focus on the effects of air and

Human activities such as the use of fertilizers in yard soil contribute to the accumulation of nutrients. When using fertilizers, the ground can only absorb so much. The use of excess fertilizers on crops allows for nitrogen to vaporize in the atmosphere through a process called volatilization (Olascoaga, 2010). Crop fertilizer also leaches nitrogen into groundwater, which eventually ends up in the ocean. When the ground is at its maximum absorbance, high concentration levels are obtained and carried through the waste system into rivers. Another factor is sewage from the increasing human population. Septic tanks are widely used unless a household is connected to wastewater treatment plants. Septic tanks purify waste by leaching the waste through soil. Storm water runoff is another source of nutrient for algal blooms. Rainfall picks up nutrients from yards and flushes these nutrients into

The Conodoguinet Creek is a one-hundred mile long body of water running through central Pennsylvania. This area has many pollution issues, such as Eutrophication and many others. Eutrophication is when there is too much nutrients in the water. Some people might not understand why too much nutrients in the water is a problem, but it is a very serious one. The higher amounts of nutrients in the water allows a larger amount of algae to grow on the surface of the water, absorbing all the dissolved oxygen in the water, leaving no oxygen left for the fish, and they die.

Back to the history, the eutrophication problem was first time concerned by public on Great lakes at the 1960s, the Lake Erie was covered by algae as a result of over dumped phosphorus from the sewage and other waste water, at that time, the Lake Erie was known as the “Dead Sea of North America”(Fitzpatrick, J. J., and Di Toro 1999). The reason cause this problem can be concluded in 2 points, 1. the stresses of overfishing, 2. development of phosphorus-based detergents. At the end of 1960, the Canada and the United States have realized the penetrance of this problem and finally sit on the table to sign an agreement that limiting phosphorus dumps to the Lake Erie, and plan to control existing unstoppable algal growth. Because of the awareness of Canada and US government, the concentration of phosphorus got a significant success. And this problem happened again during the 1990s, but this time the reason why this happen is more complexly.

Because of farm fertilizer, an excess quantity of nitrogen and phosphorus can be wash down

Eutrophication, a term that derives from two greek words, eu, meaning “good,” and trophic, meaning nutrition or nourishment, is the enrichment of water bodies with nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous that stimulate plant growth. Nitrogen is often found in rocks, soils, organisms, and the atmosphere; phosphorous resides mostly in rocks/soils and organisms. Having nitrogen and phosphorus in the ecosystem isn 't necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it 's required. Nitrogen is needed for the production of proteins and amnio acids, while phosphorous is required for the synthesis of DNA and RNA, and is involved in energy transfers. (Danver & Burch, 2011) However, too much of a good thing, can be a bad thing.

This causes smaller aquatic fish to die off, and this eventually causes bigger aquatic fish who rely on consuming the smaller aquatic fish to die (Jobin, "Dams and Disease"). Before one knows it, a domino effect has occurred. Aquatic ecosystem services are even affected because they die from too many nutrients. Ecosystems can’t thrive without these ecosystem services because they tend the ecosystem such as caring for plants, et cetera (Newell, "The Globalization and Environment Reader").

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