COURSE CODE: ESST3003

COURSE TITLE: Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

Assignment #4: Ecological and species shifts in freshwater systems due to promotion of
nutrient management

The efficient use of crop nutrients mainly those of nitrates, phosphates, and potassium, to
minimize nutrient loss to the environment is defined as nutrient management. It involves the
identification of nutrients present, determining the concentration or amount that is needed by
soil, the time, and method of application. To meet the nutrient requirements of the crop and soil,
organic methods are used such as the use of manures and composts or irrigation of fertilizers.
Management practices are carried out to reduce the rate of soil erosion to control water
movement and prevent nutrient runoff into surface and ground water. (Gaskin and Wilson.
2009). Nutrient management is important, as it reduces nutrient runoff into freshwater systems,
caused by the excessive use of inorganic fertilizer application in farming, leading to high
concentrations in soil which is not efficiently used by crops. Remaining nutrients in soil that are
not utilized by crops eventually leaches into freshwater and groundwater systems leading to
nutrient enrichment. High concentrations of nitrates and phosphates in freshwater systems such
as lakes and streams lead to eutrophication, which is the proliferation of algal blooms. This
decreases water quality, impacting aquatic life and ecosystems. Algal blooms reside on the
surface of water, blocking off sunlight that aquatic plants require. This can cause plant death in
river beds, reducing the food supply for fishes and affecting the food chains. Dead agal blooms
encourages decomposition by microorganisms consuming most of the available dissolved
oxygen in the process. This causes oxygen levels to decline to hypoxic levels at night when
microorganisms use the oxygen for decomposition and algae respires. Low dissolved oxygen
concentrations cause stress in aquatic organisms, fish kills and shifts in the species present.
(Reference). Promoting nutrient management will reduce the nutrient overloading in freshwater
systems, thereby reducing the severity of eutrophication. Freshwater systems with no nutrient
overloading have high species richness and evenness as there is improved water quality.
Ecological and species shifts will occur, to bring balance back to the food chains and webs. To
examine these shifts, biomonitoring is used to identify the changes in freshwater systems when
nutrient management is promoted.
Biomonitoring is a method of assessing the changes to an ecosystem overtime when
influenced by an external factor such as chemical contamination from agriculture. These changes
are monitored through organisms in a community that react to changes in the environment,
known as bioindicators. Organisms chosen as a bioindicator is characterized by their high
sensitivity to stress, low mobility, and ability to be easily identified. (Li et al. 2009). There are
three main types of bioindicators that can be used to monitor the shifts in freshwater systems due
to nutrient management: microbes, plants, and animals.
 Microorganisms are important bioindicators as they are abundant, rapidly grow and
reproduce. Some also play an important role in nutrient cycles such as nitrogen fixing bacteria in
the nitrogen cycle, which is one of the nutrients usually released into freshwater systems. They
are very sensitive to changes in the environment when a pollutant is introduced into the water
system. In a freshwater system that has high nutrient loading, the population of microbes that
decompose algae will be large as high concentrations of nitrates and phosphates encourages the
growth of algae. However, if nutrient management in nearby agricultural lands is practiced, the
nutrient concentration in freshwaters will decrease, therefore decreasing algae populations,
causing the population microorganism responsible for decomposition to shift to a smaller
abundance. (Parmer et al. 2016).
Plants are important to aquatic food chains and webs as they serve as the foundation by
providing food to all other living organisms. Phytoplankton, periphytons and macrophytes such
as water lilies are freshwater plants that reside in water surfaces and serve as ideal bioindicators
as they are sensitive and quickly respond to changes in the environment. These plants favor high
nutrient loading as nitrates and phosphates promotes rapid growth and reproduction. The
overpopulation of planktons in a water system encourages the formation of harmful algal
blooms, which produces toxins that can cause death to other living organisms in the ecosystem.
The overpopulation of planktons also uses up a large amount of dissolved oxygen due to dead
algal blooms decomposed by microorganisms. The use of nutrient management would result in
lower nitrate and phosphate concentrations, therefore shifting phytoplankton and periphyton
populations to stability. This will lead to improved water quality and dissolved oxygen levels as
there are less plants to respire at night, with little to no fish kills, thereby maintaining the balance
to the food chains and food webs. (Sellner et al. 2003).
Animals can be directly or indirectly affected by changes in their surrounding
environment, affecting their body and population size. It also includes the monitoring of their
ability to accumulate contaminants in their tissues and deformities that can arise during
reproduction. There are different types of animals that can be used as bioindicators to determine
the shifts that can occur in freshwater due to nutrient management. Zooplankton are suitable
bioindicators as they are affected by food availability and tells us the status of water quality.
(Chislock et al. 2013). They feed on phytoplankton and serves as food for fish in the ecosystem.
An increase in zooplankton population would indicate an increase in phytoplankton population
as they feed off these organisms. Since zooplankton serves as prey to fish and other organisms,
the overpopulation of algae allows zooplankton to seek refuge in these plants to avoid predation.
This places stress on organisms at higher trophic levels in the food chain. (Vakkilainen et al.
2004). Therefore, the application of nutrient management would also stabilize zooplankton and
phytoplankton populations, preventing overpopulation by regulating algae population.
Benthic macroinvertebrates are also good bioindicators to determine shifts in freshwater
systems. There are different types of macroinvertebrates such as insects (dragonflies), mollusks
(snails), and worms (leeches). They are important organisms to the ecosystem as they maintain
interaction in the community, provide food sources to organisms in higher tropic levels, and
recycle organic matter and inorganic nutrients. Macroinvertebrates are easily influenced by
changes in their environment and have limited mobility, hence they are good indicators to
changes. (Samiyappan. 2019). In conventional farming methods which overuses fertilizers that
runs off into nearby streams, the effect of nutrient overloading on macroinvertebrates shifts their
population to a decline, which lowers their diversity in terms of species richness and evenness.
This disrupts the community structure in the ecosystem as they serve as food for organisms in
higher tropic levels in the food chain. Decreasing population would lead to competition among
higher tropic level organisms as there is less food resources available. Using integrated farming
methods, the application of nutrient management leads to the reduction of nutrient
concentrations, shifting macroinvertebrates to increase their species diversity as there is less
stress to the aquatic system, maintaining balance to the food chain and community structure.
(Magbanua et al. 2010)
Fish species are the most sensitive organisms to nutrients. Catfish is one of the most
common fish species that can be found in freshwater systems such as ponds. They are easily
influenced by changes in nutrient concentration in their ecosystem, which affects their
population and ability to survive. To determine their shifts to these changes, research was done
to compare catfish populations in a pond that is influenced by intensive agricultural farming and
another pond located near an integrated agricultural system. In the intensive agricultural system,
large amounts of nutrients were being washed into the pond due to excessive fertilizer use from
soil runoff and from animal waste. This resulted in eutrophication in the pond and shifted the
catfish fish population to a decrease in diversity, with smaller body sizes and mass. On the other
hand, the opposite was seen for the pond that was influenced by integrated agriculture, as overall
water quality was better. Catfish population and body sizes was significantly higher compared to
the intensive influenced pond. (Kluts et al. 2012). To account for these differences, the pond with
eutrophication due to excessive nitrates and phosphates being released from the nearby farm
caused significant depletion of water quality, such as pH changes and decrease in dissolved
oxygen concentrations. When concentrations of oxygen fall below the standard of 1-2 mg/L,
hypoxia occurs which can cause stress and even death when fish species become anoxic (lack of
oxygen supply). When organisms live under stress, it affects their immune and physiological
responses which will cause reduced body mass and size. (Abdel-Tawwb et al. 2019). When
nutrient management is used in agriculture, it reduces the concentration of nutrients in aquatic
systems to prevent overloading and eutrophication. This allows for good water quality and
increased productivity in freshwater ecosystem, allowing catfish to thrive and reproduce.
Nutrient management is the effective use of fertilizers and other organic methods that
reduces the excessive build up of nitrate and phosphate that runs off into water systems and
causes eutrophication. Stabilized nutrient concentration increases ecological productivity and
water quality. The promotion of this practice leads to ecological, and species shifts in freshwater
systems that can be monitored using bioindicators. Microorganism populations would decline as
there is reduced eutrophication with reduced population of algal blooms. Plant species would
also be reduced in number as nutrient concentration decreases, which they utilize to grow.
Animal species such as macroinvertebrates and fish species would shift to increase species
richness and evenness as there is less stress. Ecological changes in freshwater systems are
undisturbed community structure, improved water quality, and balance in food chains and food
webs.

References
1. Abdel-Tawwab, Mohsen, Mohamed N. Monier, Seyed Hossein Hoseinifar, and Caterina
Faggio. 2019. “Fish Response to Hypoxia Stress: Growth, Physiological, and
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https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-019-00614-9.
2. Gasken, Julia, and Melony Wilson. 2009. “Nutrient Management.” Soil Quality:
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http://soilquality.org/practices/nutrient_management.html.
3. Kluts, Ingeborg N., José Potting, Roel H. Bosma, Le T. Phong, and Henk M. J. Udo.
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