What is Eutrophication?
Eutrophication is a real and ever-growing issue in our marine ecosystems. It is the cyclical process by which water bodies become overly enriched with nutrients. It can be caused by various factors, including agricultural runoff, clear-cutting, ineffective waste management, and more.
Here are some of the major steps in the process:
- Nutrients (particularly Nitrogen and Phosphorus) enter water bodies.
- As algae, phytoplankton, and plants feed on the nutrients, they rapidly build up which causes an algal bloom.
- These algal blooms block sunlight from penetrating water bodies, which prevents photosynthesis and hindering plant life.
- These nutrients eventually run out, and the water itself cannot support so much growth that the algae dies.
- Bacteria digest the dead algae, consuming oxygen and omitting carbon dioxide in a process of decay.
- Fish and marine wildlife die due to the lack of oxygen.
- A POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOP is created: plant decay → less oxygen → marine life decompose → even less oxygen → etc.
WHAT ARE ITS EFFECTS?
Eutrophication is a big problem for numerous reasons:
→ Firstly, eutrophication damages marine ecosystems and causes a loss in biodiversity. For example, native species are suppressed, coral reefs bleach and die, habitats are destroyed through hypoxia.
→Large-scale industrial activities, like fishing, are affected, and the issue also limits recreational activities, like swimming, snorkeling, etc. which destructs economically important and primary industrial activities.
→Leads to deprivation of Dissolved Oxygen water causing hypoxia. This can turn the ecosystem into a dead zone lacking sufficient oxygen to support the survival of organisms.
→The quality of water degrades to a great extent. It causes acidification of the water, making it highly turbid and tainted for usage.
→Algal blooms also produce harmful toxins which reach humans through the consumption of shellfish and other seafood and water, and poses threats to human health.
