eutrophication
Sign in to savethumb|313x313px|Eutrophication can cause harmful algal blooms like this one in a river near Chengdu, China.
AI overview
Eutrophication is the process where a body of water becomes overly enriched with nutrients, causing excessive algae and plant growth that can harm aquatic ecosystems. It matters because it degrades water quality, depletes oxygen in the water, and can create conditions toxic to fish and other organisms, as shown by the harmful algal blooms that result from this process.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
30 sectionsContents
- History and terminology
- Causes
- Cultural eutrophication
- Natural eutrophication
- Effects
- Ecological effects
- Decreased biodiversity
- New species invasion
- Toxicity
- Economic effects
- Health impacts
- Causes and effects for different types of water bodies
- Freshwater systems
- Coastal waters
- Effects of coastal eutrophication
- Extent of the problem
- Prevention
- Minimizing pollution from sewage
- Minimizing nutrient pollution by agriculture
- Policy
- Reversal and remediation
- Algae bloom forecasting
- Nutrient bioextraction
- Shellfish in estuaries
- Seaweed farming
- Geo-engineering
- Chemical removal of phosphorus
- See also
- External links
- References
thumb|313x313px|Eutrophication can cause harmful algal blooms like this one in a river near Chengdu, China.
Eutrophication is a general term describing a process in which nutrients accumulate in a body of water, resulting in an increased growth of organisms that may deplete the oxygen in the water; i.e. the process of too many plants growing on the surface of a river, lake, etc., often because chemicals that are used to help crops grow have been carried there by rain. Eutrophication may occur naturally or as a result of human actions. Manmade, or cultural, eutrophication occurs when sewage, industrial wastewater, fertilizer runoff, and other nutrient sources are released into the environment. Such nutrient pollution usually causes algal blooms and bacterial growth, resulting in the depletion of dissolved oxygen in water and causing substantial environmental degradation. Many policies have been introduced to combat eutrophication, including the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)'s sustainability development goals.