Eutrophication is found

Missourian In southeastern Louisiana, CF Industries’ Donaldsonville complex sits along the west bank of the Mississippi River. It is the world’s largest ammonia production facility and produces 8 million tons of nitrogen products each year. From the factory to the field, fertilizer is a significant source of heat-trapping gases. Can the industry lessen its footprint? A complex of industrial towers rises from the flat landscape at the edge of a highway here, its stacks and pipes snaking around each other. Workers in neon yellow vests and protective helmets navigate the maze in pickups while an industrial hum blankets the area. Manufactured clouds float above the nearby Mississippi River, where barges and ships move goods up- and downstream. This is CF Industries’ Donaldsonville Complex, the Scientific Reports, the synthetic nitrogen fertilizer supply chain is responsible for 2.1% of global heat-trapping gas emissions – greater than Menegat, Ledo and Tirado, 2022 The greenhouse gases from the lifecycle of fertilizer consist of emissions from fertilizer production, transportation and use. The Donaldsonville plant alone is the According to the study, only about 41% of emissions come from the process of making and shipping fertilizer from industrial facilities like the one here. The majority come from emissions generated from farm fields after the fertilizer is spread. The root of the problem: Some farmers are applying more fertilizer than what is needed for optimal plant growt...

Eutrophication, or nutrient pollution, is a major environmental concern for lakes, tributaries, rivers, estuaries and coastal waters. Eutrophication refers to an increase in nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus, which leads to an explosive increase in the growth of algae, called algal blooms. Eutrophication also includes the increased input of sedimentary material. There are two types of eutrophication: natural and cultural. Furthermore, there are two types of sources for the nutrients and sedimentary materials: point and nonpoint. Over centuries, gradual buildup of nutrients, sediments and organic material begin to fill many lake basins. As the lakes become more eutrophic, they are able to support more living organisms, including damaging algae, as a result of higher nutrient levels. At the same time, their littoral area increases as a result of sedimentary buildup. Eventually, this process not only affects the water quality but allows colonization by terrestrial vegetation in the expanding shallows. The length of this process depends on the characteristics of the lake basin, the watershed and the climate. Cultural Eutrophication The alteration of nutrient input to water basins by human activity can dramatically increase eutrophication, leading to major ecological changes in decades, rather than centuries. Cultural eutrophication is primarily associated with phosphorus, which is found in fertilizers and partially treated sewage. Phosphorus has been found to be on...

In nature, phosphorus is found mostly in the form of phosphate ions— PO 4 3 − \text PO 4 3 − ​ start text, P, O, end text, start subscript, 4, end subscript, start superscript, 3, minus, end superscript . Phosphate compounds are found in sedimentary rocks, and as the rocks weather—wear down over long time periods—the phosphorus they contain slowly leaches into surface water and soils. Volcanic ash, aerosols, and mineral dust can also be significant phosphate sources, though phosphorus has no real gas phase, unlike other elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. Phosphate compounds in the soil can be taken up by plants and, from there, transferred to animals that eat the plants. When plants and animals excrete wastes or die, phosphates may be taken up by detritivores or returned to the soil. Phosphorus-containing compounds may also be carried in surface runoff to rivers, lakes, and oceans, where they are taken up by aquatic organisms. When phosphorus-containing compounds from the bodies or wastes of marine organisms sink to the floor of the ocean, they form new sedimentary layers. Over long periods of time, phosphorus-containing sedimentary rock may be moved from the ocean to the land by a geological process called uplift. However, this process is very slow, and the average phosphate ion has an oceanic residence time—time in the ocean—of 20,000 to 100,000 years. This illustration shows the phosphorus cycle. Phosphorus enters the atmosphere from volcanic aerosols. As t...

Eutrophication Has Greek Roots Eutrophication, which comes from the Greek eutrophos, "well-nourished", has become a major environmental problem. Nitrates and phosphates, especially from lawn fertilizers, run off the land into rivers and lakes, promoting the growth of algae and other plant life, which take oxygen from the water, causing the death of fish and mollusks. Cow manure, agricultural fertilizer, detergents, and human waste are often to blame as well. In the 1960s and '70s, the eutrophication of Lake Erie advanced so extremely that it became known as the "dead lake". And many areas of the oceans worldwide—some more than 20,000 square miles in extent—have become "dead zones", where almost no life of any kind exists. Recent Examples on the Web Rice has the lowest impact on land use, almond has the lowest impact on greenhouse emissions, and soy has the lowest impact on freshwater use and eutrophication, which is contamination of a body of water with nutrients that cause excessive plant and algae growth. — Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 15 Nov. 2022 What is eutrophication? — Amin Mirkouei, Forbes, 28 June 2021 Climate change and eutrophication surely have something to do with it. — Rodrigo Pérez Ortega, Discover Magazine, 11 Sep. 2019 This can lead to excessive waste concentrations that trigger environmental effects, Vinnerås said—things like dead zones in the oceans and eutrophication of lakes. — Keely Larson, Ars Technica, 20 Aug. 2022 Low levels of oxygen (hypoxia) or no oxyge...

Eutrophication Eutrophication can be defined as the alteration in the ecological functioning of aquatic ecosystems due to excessive and unbalanced growth of primary producers stimulated by high nutrient inputs. From: Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, 2023 Related terms: • Nutrient • Cyanobacteria • Therapeutic Procedure • Parasite (Microbiology) • Carcinogen • Intoxication • Chemotherapeutic Agent J. Frederick Grassle, in Encyclopedia of Biodiversity (Second Edition), 2013 Eutrophication Eutrophication is the increase in the rate of supply of organic matter to an ecosystem. Increases in global inputs of nitrogenous fertilizers and the mining of phosphate rock have generated increased concern about the effects of eutrophication on enclosed marine ecosystems ( Nixon, 1995). Eutrophic ecosystems have algal production in excess of 300gCm −2yr −1, which results in areas of anoxia and loss of habitat for fish and other organisms. Relatively high rates of denitrification on continental shelves remove excess nitrogen originating from land sources and, in concert with dilution, help prevent adverse eutrophication effects in open coastal areas ( Soetaert and Middelburg, 2009). JoAnn M. Burkholder, Patricia M. Glibert, in Encyclopedia of Biodiversity (Second Edition), 2013 Abstract Eutrophication is the natural aging process of aquatic ecosystems, historically used in reference to the natural aging of lakes. It is sometimes defined as an increase in the ra...