Hi Folks,
You know that most of the European Countries including UK are in NVZ, and therefore could you please give some idea for longer term how could we reduce Eutrophication / toxic effect from those NVZ?
Thank you!
Dr K M Rahman
Research Fellow and Lecturer (BCU)
It is generally accepted that there is a good qualitative knowledge of the processes involved in eutrophication, but the quantitative influence on ecological processes and changes in the structure of communities is not yet well understood. Considering the complexity of the eutrophication process, it appears that not all control parameters, with positive or negative effects, are taken into account by eutrophication monitoring strategies.
Regarding nutrient inputs, atmospheric inputs are poorly measured, although they can represent a non-negligible part of total inputs in some regions. The phosphorus contents of soils are also little measured, and it would be particularly useful to know them. The study of the sediment also appears to be little taken into account in the assessments, and the information obtained on the
pelagic system and water column cannot be interpreted as a whole. The limitation of primary planktonic production could be studied through the study of the Redfield ratio describing the average carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus composition of phytoplankton biomass,
or by measuring the ratio of flows accessible to algae for the various elements, and not that of stocks available at the time of measurement; that is, to move from a static assessment to a dynamic assessment of the limiting factor (s).
It would be interesting to combine the measurement of the chlorophyll concentration with a measurement of processes such as that of primary production. For phytoplankton, reflections revolve around a holistic assessment of plankton dynamics based on the joint use of three indicators integrating: 1) the study of functional groups or life forms, 2) the use of time series of phytoplankton biomass and zooplankton abundance in order to monitor significant changes in plankton production, iii) indices of diversity taking into account the number of species or the dominance of species. The challenge for harmful microalgal blooms (HABs) is to understand which bloom is linked to eutrophication and why a particular species responds to certain nutrient conditions, even if other factors are also involved.
It is important to study the links between eutrophication, climate change, and acidification of marine waters, and to consider cumulative and synergistic effects when assessing the state of ecosystems. With regard to the effects of climate change and acidification, the observation programs do not systematically integrate the key parameters of the system, namely pH, pCO2, total alkalinity, dissolved inorganic carbon. Therefore, there is no indicator incorporating these parameters. However, it is not unlikely that these effects will counterbalance efforts made in terms of reducing nutrient intake.
For biological indicators relating to groups other than that of primary producers, as mentioned in the above section, research is underway to extract more specialized information than that of general indices.
Regards
Thank you Mr Bachir, really nice explanation,
With regards,
Mizan
Areas vulnerable to nitrate pollution are those land areas whose runoff or seepage affects or may affect water pollution by nitrates from agricultural sources.@
please check the links
Technical Report Developments in monitoring the effectiveness of the EU Nitra...
Article Agricultural impacts on streams near Nitrate Vulnerable Zone...
Article Identifying Potential Hazardous Farms in Nitrate-Vulnerable ...
Article Action reducing the outflow of nitrates from agricultural so...
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