Reducing Phosphorus to Curb Lake Eutrophication is a Success
TLDR
It is found that numerous long-term studies of lake ecosystems in Europe and North America show that controlling algal blooms and other symptoms of eutrophication depends on reducing inputs of a single nutrient: phosphorus.Abstract:
As human populations increase and land-use intensifies, toxic and unsightly nuisance blooms of algae are becoming larger and more frequent in freshwater lakes. In most cases, the blooms are predominantly blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria), which are favored by low ratios of nitrogen to phosphorus. In the past half century, aquatic scientists have devoted much effort to understanding the causes of such blooms and how they can be prevented or reduced. Here we review the evidence, finding that numerous long-term studies of lake ecosystems in Europe and North America show that controlling algal blooms and other symptoms of eutrophication depends on reducing inputs of a single nutrient: phosphorus. In contrast, small-scale experiments of short duration, where nutrients are added rather than removed, often give spurious and confusing results that bear little relevance to solving the problem of cyanobacteria blooms in lakes.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Widespread global increase in intense lake phytoplankton blooms since the 1980s
TL;DR: Three decades of high-resolution Landsat 5 satellite imagery are used to investigate long-term trends in intense summertime near-surface phytoplankton blooms for 71 large lakes globally, revealing a worldwide exacerbation of bloom conditions.
Journal ArticleDOI
It Takes Two to Tango: When and Where Dual Nutrient (N & P) Reductions Are Needed to Protect Lakes and Downstream Ecosystems
Hans W. Paerl,J. Thad Scott,Mark J. McCarthy,Silvia E. Newell,Wayne S. Gardner,Karl E. Havens,Daniel K. Hoffman,Steven W. Wilhelm,Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh +8 more
TL;DR: Managers should consider whether balanced control of N and P will most effectively reduce HABs along the freshwater-marine continuum, supported by studies indicating that biological N fixation cannot always meet lake ecosystem N needs, and that anthropogenic N andP loading has increased dramatically in recent decades.
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Nutrients, eutrophication and harmful algal blooms along the freshwater to marine continuum
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the problem of aquatic nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, which threatens water quality and biotic integrity from headwater streams to coastal areas world-wide, including hypoxic “dead zones” that reduce fish and shellfish production, harmful algal blooms that create taste and odor problems and threaten the safety of drinking water and aquatic food supplies.
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Eutrophication, harmful algae and biodiversity - Challenging paradigms in a world of complex nutrient changes.
TL;DR: The underlying message is that nutrient proportions and forms can alter biodiversity, even when nutrients are at concentrations in excess of those considered limiting.
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Performance and prospects of different adsorbents for phosphorus uptake and recovery from water
TL;DR: A review of the literature about phosphate removal from water through adsorption and subsequent recovery through desorption or direct use of the phosphorus-loaded adsorbent as a fertilizer can be found in this article.
References
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Book
Biogeochemistry : An Analysis of Global Change
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a perspective of the global cycle of nitrogen and phosphorous, the global water cycle, and the global sulfur cycle from a global point of view.
Journal ArticleDOI
Terrestrial phosphorus limitation: mechanisms, implications, and nitrogen–phosphorus interactions
TL;DR: It is suggested that depletion, soil barriers, and low-P parent material often cause ultimate limitation because they control the ecosystem mass balance of P and cause it to be an ultimate limiting nutrient.
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Eutrophication of lakes cannot be controlled by reducing nitrogen input: Results of a 37-year whole-ecosystem experiment
David W. Schindler,Robert E. Hecky,David L. Findlay,M. P. Stainton,Brian R. Parker,Michael J. Paterson,Kenneth G. Beaty,M. Lyng,S. E. M. Kasian +8 more
TL;DR: Reducing nitrogen inputs increasingly favored nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria as a response by the phytoplankton community to extreme seasonal nitrogen limitation, and the lake remained highly eutrophic, despite showing indications of extreme nitrogen limitation seasonally.
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Nitrogen as the limiting nutrient for eutrophication in coastal marine ecosystems: Evolving views over three decades
Robert W. Howarth,Roxanne Marino +1 more
TL;DR: Over the past two decades, a strong consensus has evolved among the scientific community that N is the primary cause of eutrophication in many coastal ecosystems.