Eutrophication: Water and Optical Density
Eutrophication
Introduction
Europhication (the over enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to algal blooms and anoxic events) is a persistent condition of surface waters and a widespread environmental problem (Carpenter, 2005). The main cause is excessive loading into the system of phosphorus and nitrogen, resulting in high algal biomass, dominance by cyanobacteria, and loss of macrophytes (Dixit, 2005). When the nutrient concentrations rise to extremely high levels, eutrophication occurs. There are two stages, which begin with the algal bloom. Algal bloom creates a barrier at the surface of the water, which prevents sunlight from coming through, which eventually kills the algae and other plants. This brings us to the ends in which there are a high amount of dead organisms and can even cause what is know as fish kill. After setting up the three experiments called control, moderate, and high, I believe that in the Raphanus sativus plant, the nutrient loading and productivity will rise and the diversity will fall. All three of the plants will grow but the height will differ between the control, moderate and high plants. The control will have a lower height, the moderate will be higher and the high will have the highest height. With the Elodea densa, Eutrophication will occur in all three aquariums. All three will be different because of the different types of fertilizer. Control will have no pollution, the moderate tank will have some, and the high tank will have a lot because of the excessive agricultural runoff. By doing this project I hope to gain a more understanding of pollution and how it affects our aquatic and terrestrial environments. I believe now that Eutrophication is a growing problem and after the project I hope to gain a better understanding of how to prevent it.
Methods
When we started the Terrestrial Environment of the Eutrophication procedure we got three pots from the teacher, filled them with soil, planted
Introduction
Europhication (the over enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to algal blooms and anoxic events) is a persistent condition of surface waters and a widespread environmental problem (Carpenter, 2005). The main cause is excessive loading into the system of phosphorus and nitrogen, resulting in high algal biomass, dominance by cyanobacteria, and loss of macrophytes (Dixit, 2005). When the nutrient concentrations rise to extremely high levels, eutrophication occurs. There are two stages, which begin with the algal bloom. Algal bloom creates a barrier at the surface of the water, which prevents sunlight from coming through, which eventually kills the algae and other plants. This brings us to the ends in which there are a high amount of dead organisms and can even cause what is know as fish kill. After setting up the three experiments called control, moderate, and high, I believe that in the Raphanus sativus plant, the nutrient loading and productivity will rise and the diversity will fall. All three of the plants will grow but the height will differ between the control, moderate and high plants. The control will have a lower height, the moderate will be higher and the high will have the highest height. With the Elodea densa, Eutrophication will occur in all three aquariums. All three will be different because of the different types of fertilizer. Control will have no pollution, the moderate tank will have some, and the high tank will have a lot because of the excessive agricultural runoff. By doing this project I hope to gain a more understanding of pollution and how it affects our aquatic and terrestrial environments. I believe now that Eutrophication is a growing problem and after the project I hope to gain a better understanding of how to prevent it.
Methods
When we started the Terrestrial Environment of the Eutrophication procedure we got three pots from the teacher, filled them with soil, planted