controlling eutrophication nitrogen and phosphorus.pdf

POLICYFORUM ECOLOGY Controlling Eutrophication: Improvements in the water quality of many freshwater and most coastal marine ecosystems Nitrogen and Phosphorus requires reductions in both nitrogen and phosphorus inputs. 1 2 3 4 5 Daniel J. Conley, * Hans W. Paerl, Robert W. Howarth, Donald F. Boesch, Sybil P. Seitzinger, Karl E. Havens,6 Christiane Lancelot,7 Gene E. Likens8 he need to reduce anthropogenic nutri- term experimental manipulations at Lake 227 environmental-quality goals were not achieved, ent inputs to aquatic ecosystems in in the Experimental Lakes Area, Canada (5). particularly in estuaries and coastal marine Torder to protect drinking-water sup- These and other results (6) led to widespread ecosystems. This led to the general recogni- plies and to reduce eutrophication, including reductions in P loading to North American tion of the need to control N input to coastal the proliferation of harmful algal blooms (1) and European lakes and consequent improve- waters (9). and “dead zones” in coastal marine eco- ments in water quality ( 7). On the basis of In lakes, the key symptom of eutrophication systems (2) has been widely