Main Ideas
-Nitrogen and phosphorus are the essential ingredients of plant fertilizers.
- Most aquatic plants are microscopic, single-celled organisms called phytoplankton that drift suspended in currents.
- In response to fertilization, phytoplankton multiply explosively, coloring water shades of green, brown and red with their photosynthetic pigments. These blooms increase supply of organic matter to aquatic ecosystems, eutrophication.
-Water circulates less readily than air and holds only 5-10 grams of oxygen per cubic meter.
- Phytoplankton are short lived- they continually die off and sink, leaving new generations growing in their place. The more abundant the bloom, the heavier the fallout to the lower depths- bottom living bacteria that digest this dead plant matter consume oxygen.
- When organic material is abundant in a lake and where surface and bottom waters seldom mix, oxygen rapidly becomes scarce below the surface. - Under the right circumstances, this could also happen to open waters. This is known as a "dead zone"
- This could take away fishing areas, shores could be filled with rotting plants and the water could smell like rotten eggs due to bacteria which spew out hydrogen sulfide
-Farmers have increased the number of legumes they plant. These legumes live in partnership with microorganisms which convert nitrogen to nutritive form. Enriching nitrogen compounds about equal to fertilizers have become available like this
- Most aquatic plants are microscopic, single-celled organisms called phytoplankton that drift suspended in currents.
- In response to fertilization, phytoplankton multiply explosively, coloring water shades of green, brown and red with their photosynthetic pigments. These blooms increase supply of organic matter to aquatic ecosystems, eutrophication.
-Water circulates less readily than air and holds only 5-10 grams of oxygen per cubic meter.
- Phytoplankton are short lived- they continually die off and sink, leaving new generations growing in their place. The more abundant the bloom, the heavier the fallout to the lower depths- bottom living bacteria that digest this dead plant matter consume oxygen.
- When organic material is abundant in a lake and where surface and bottom waters seldom mix, oxygen rapidly becomes scarce below the surface. - Under the right circumstances, this could also happen to open waters. This is known as a "dead zone"
- This could take away fishing areas, shores could be filled with rotting plants and the water could smell like rotten eggs due to bacteria which spew out hydrogen sulfide
-Farmers have increased the number of legumes they plant. These legumes live in partnership with microorganisms which convert nitrogen to nutritive form. Enriching nitrogen compounds about equal to fertilizers have become available like this
Explain the authors main points.
In this article the author is talking about how human waste and phytoplankton. It may seem like growing phytoplankton is a good thing but it really isnt. When our waste goes into the ocean the phytoplankton can feed on it and grow bigger and reproduce biggers. This is causing energy from the ocean to be used more ( Oxygen ). it also is blocking the sunlight from going to the deep ocean.
What I think?
I think that we should dispose of our waste evenly into the ocean. The ocean is big and we can like take our waste on a boat and dispose it evenly around so that the ocean gets equal nutrients instead of just one spot . I also think that we should dispose our waste into the ground. Like dig a big hole and put it into there. The animals and insects can use that for nutrients and it can also be used as a fertilizzer