Controlling Eutrophication: Nitrogen And Phosphorus

摘要

The need to reduce anthropogenic nutrient inputs to aquatic ecosystems in order to protect drinking-water supplies and to reduce eutrophication, including the proliferation of harmful algal blooms and "dead zones" in coastal marine ecosystems has been widely recognized. However, the costs of doing this are substantial; hence, developing the appropriate nutrient management strategy is very important. Nitrogen (N), needed for protein synthesis, and phosphorus (P), needed for DNA, RNA, and energy transfer, are both required to support aquatic plant growth and are the key limiting nutrients in most aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. However, a cascading set of consequences has been set in motion, arising from massive increases in fixed N additions to the biosphere, largely through the production of fertilizers and increases in fossil fuel emissions. P levels have also significantly increased because of fertilizer use, as well as from municipal and industrial wastewater.