Eutrophication

Eutrophication is what a water-based ecosystem does when too many nutrients are added to it. Eutrophication is mainly caused by two nutrients, phosphorus and nitrogen. These are normally brought to aquatic ecosystems as runoff from fertilized agricultural areas, erosion from river banks, river beds, clearing of land (deforestation), or sewage that ends up in aquatic environments. The major consequence of eutrophication are algal blooms.

Eutrophication Media

• River algae Sichuan.jpg

  Eutrophication can cause harmful algal blooms like this one in a river near Chengdu, China.

• Sodium tripolyphosphate.svg

  Skeletal model of sodium tripolyphosphate

• NRCSTN83003 - Tennessee (6251)(NRCS Photo Gallery).jpg

  An example in Tennessee of how soil from fertilized fields can turn into runoff after a storm, creating a flux of nutrients that flow into local bodies of water such as lakes and creeks

• Mono Lake sat zoomed.jpg

  The eutrophication of Mono Lake, which is a cyanobacteria-rich soda lake

• Eutrophication is apparent as increased turbidity in the northern part of the Caspian Sea, imaged from orbit.

• Algal bloom in the Lake Valencia - Venezuela.jpg

  An algal bloom in Lake Valencia, the largest freshwater lake in Venezuela. Since 1976 the lake has been affected by eutrophication caused by wastewater.

• Orange like Autumn.jpg

  Autumn in Netherlands

• Mussels at Strawberry Rocks PC013145.JPG

  Bivalves at Strawberry Rocks, Oudekraal.

• Application of a phosphorus sorbent to a lake - The Netherlands.jpg

  Application of a phosphorus sorbent to a lake - The Netherlands