Cultural Eutrophication of Inland, Estuarine, and Coastal Waters

Abstract

In the mid-1800s, when Justus von Liebig published his highly influential work relating soil fertility to the yields of agricultural crops, surface waters worldwide frequently were oligotrophic or poorly nourished. However, anthropogenic inputs of nutrients to surface waters have increased greatly during the past 150 years, and eutrophication is the process by which water bodies are made more well-nourished, or eutrophic, by an increase in their nutrient supply. We have learned as a consequence of cultural eutrophication that fresh and marine waters respond strongly to nitrogen and phosphorus inputs, and that this nutrient enrichment in turn can lead to highly undesirable changes in surface water quality. In this chapter, I review the process, the impacts, and the management of cultural eutrophication in inland, estuarine, and coastal marine waters. I also present two case studies (Lake Washington in Seattle, Washington, and Kaneohe Bay in Oahu, Hawaii) that highlight the study and subsequent control of eutrophication as a success in ecosystem science.