Phosphorus control is critical to mitigating eutrophication
Year: 2008
Type: article
Abstract: The Midwest floods of 2008 added more than just water to the region's lakes, reservoirs, and rivers. Runoff from farms and towns carries a heavy load of silt, nutrients, and other pollutants. The nutrients trigger blooms of algae, which taint drinking water. Death and decay of the algae depletes oxygen, kills fish and bottom-dwelling animals, and thereby creates “dead zones” in the body of water. The syndrome of excessive nutrients, noxious algae, foul water, and dead zones—which ecologists call eutrophication—is depressingly familiar to those who depend on water from rich agricultural regions.
Author: Stephen R. Carpenter
Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Language: English
Subfield: Environmental Chemistry
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1971285895