Question

A farmer notices that the corn in her fields is growing slowly. So she adds twice the normal amount of fertilizer to each field. Soon after, dead fish begin to turn up in the lake adjacent to her property. What is the probable explanation? biology chapter 15

Answer 1

The correct answer is: Eutrophication.

Explanation:

• Fertilizers are inorganic o organic nutrients highly rich in elements like nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus which are essential for the growth of plants.
• The application of excess fertilizers in the soil causes the surface run off as well as leaching of these nutrients into the soil from where it is gradually transferred into the nearby water bodies, in this case the lake adjacent to the farmer's property.
• In the lake, these nutrients promotes the growth of plants like algae.
• The excessive growth of algae in the lake disturbs he ecological balance of the lake and causes a dearth of oxygen in it. This phenomenon is said to be called Eutrophication.
• The reduction in the level of oxygen in the lake causes the animals, like fishes, in it to gradually die.