Man-made environment issue- Eutrophication Essay

Eutrophication is the ecosystem response to the addition of artificial or natural substances to an aquatic system. (Schindler, David and Vallentyne, John R. 2004)Most people don’ t really know about it, so I’m writing this essay to tell some facts about two major causes, the bad effect in my country – China and the prevention and reversal and how can the algae be used to make more benefit to the world and people who live on it. The two major causes of eutrophication are excess nitrates and excess phosphates in water. (e-How Jul 05, 2012)Many farmers use fertilizers to make their plants grow better, but one of the most frequently-used fertilizers is the fertilizer which contain nitrates and phosphates. Once fertilizer is applied, the nitrates, which are water soluble, will leach into groundwater or erode and end up in surface runoff. Phosphates will adhere to soil articles, and often accumulate in soil and erode, along with soil, into aquatic environments. ( Smith, V. H. ; Tilman, G. D. ; Nekola, J. C. 1999. ) Meanwhile, nitrates can also vaporize into the atmosphere, where they become a major source of acid rain. When the raindrops drop into lakes or rivers and streams, there are nitrates that come into water and cause the eutrophication. The bad effect of eutrophication in China is really serious. One of the most famous ones is the Tai River blue-green algae in 2007. Because of the eruption of blue-green algae, the water can’t be used at all. It smells like something is becoming putrid. Also some algal blooms are toxic to plants and animals. It has affected the citizen’s lives; they can just drink and use the water which was brought in shops. The urgent demand of the water has caused the price of the water to became more and more expensive. (Face to the Tai River blue-green algae 2007) It has not only brought people a lot of inconvenience but it also causes ecological consequences. â€Å"The general types of ecological consequences include: reduction in biodiversity, die-off of certain organisms, reduction in visibility and mobility functions due to biotic overgrowth. † (Eutrophication December 18, 2007) Because it causes a lot of biont to die, it breaks the balance of the natural world. Once the balance is broke, it’ll take a lot of time and plenty of human interference to fix it. In addition, it also affects the pocketbook of fishermen. There was less fish so fishermen could not catch many fish. (Face to the Tai River blue-green algae 2007) Even though eutrophication is just like an evil, there are still some ways to make it better. First of all, people can solve it by using biont that can remove or eat the nitrates or algae. â€Å"One proposed solution to eutrophication in estuaries is to restore shellfish populations, such as oysters. Oyster reefs remove nitrogen from the water column and filter out suspended solids, subsequently reducing the likelihood or extent of harmful algal blooms or anoxic conditions. †(Kroeger, Timm, 2012) And some plants, such as water hyacinth, Alternanthera sessilis, Zizania aquatica and plants like them are also helpful. ( No data,2008). The second one is a future work: minimizing nonpoint pollution. People can make riparian buffer zones which are interfaces between a flowing body of water and land. Creating riparian buffer zones nearby farms and roads is an efficient way to manage the eutrophication problem goes further. ( Angold P. G. 1997) At the mean time, government can manage this problem by promulgating policy. The policy can be broken into four major sectors: technologies, public participation, economic instruments, and cooperation. Technologies include all kinds of technologies that can prevent the eutrophication or can make it within a region. (Oglesby, R. T. and Edmondson, W. T. 1966. ) For example, the treatment of sewage is one of them. Public participation is used to make sure people do something to help reverse the eutrophication so that the policy will be effective. The economic instruments are used to give incentives to those who are eco-friendly. (â€Å"Planning and Management of Lakes and Reservoirs: An Integrated Approach to Eutrophication. † 2000) The cooperation between different organizations is really necessary to prevent it spreading further. Lastly, sponsoring people to use algae is also a good idea. China is a good example. The supply of crabs in China is always less than demand because Chinese love eating crabs. But the same crabs in Germany were so much that cause a lot of problems. The reason is Chinese eat them but German don’t eat them. This means Chinese know how to use them, but Germans don’t. However, how to use eutrophication? I’ll talk about it in next paragraph. Although there are lots of bad effects of eutrophication, it is also possible to use the algae. First, they are used as fertilizers, soil conditioners and are a source of livestock feed. People can also eat them. â€Å"It is a complete protein with essential amino acids and it contains high amounts of simple and complex carbohydrates which provide the body with a source of additional fuel. † (Uses of Algae as Energy source, Fertilizer, 2013) From this we can see, the algae not only can be eaten but it also has a high level of nutrition. They are good for humans, animals and land. As they are crude, it won’t hurt the environment and they don’t use a lot of energy. As a result, the eutrophication also has a good aspect. To conclude, although there are a lot of causes of eutrophication, there are still ways to solve the problem. By these solutions, people can be successes in managing the eutrophication and even use it as a kind of resource. This can be helpful to the short of resources and the environment. At last, I hope after reading my essay, you can learn more about eutrophication! Reference list Angold P. G. (1997). â€Å"The Impact of a Road Upon Adjacent Heathland Vegetation: Effects on Plant Species Composition†. The Journal of Applied Ecology 34 (2): 409–417. Doi:10. 2307/2404886. JSTOR 2404886. [Accessed 13 April 2013] eHOW, (2012) Causes & Effect of Eutrophication [online] Available at: http://www. ehow. com/info_8387377_causes-effects-eutrophication. html [Accessed 13 April 2013] Face to the Tai River blue-green algae (2007) [online] Available at: http://news. sina. com. cn/c/2007-06-11/172513203878. shtml [Accessed 13 April 2013] How to manage eutrophication (2007) [online] Available at: http://www. goootech. com/solutions/detail/73015891. html [Accessed 13 April 2013] Schindler, David and Vallentyne, John R. (2004) Over fertilization of the World’s Freshwaters and Estuaries, University of Alberta Press, p. 1 [Accessed 13 April 2013] Uses of Algae as Energy source, Fertilizer, Food and Pollution control (2013) [online] Available at: http://www. oilgae. com/algae/use/use. html [Accessed 13 April 2013]