BIOL 240 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Limiting Factor, Micronutrient, Detritivore

• School: University of San Diego
• Department: Biology Courses
• Course: BIOL 240
• Professor: Lisa Baird

Document Summary

Experiments in the sargasso sea in the subtropical atlantic ocean showed that the micronutrient . Upwelling of nutrient-rich waters in parts of the oceans contributes to regions of high primary production. The addition of large amounts of nutrients to lakes has a wide range of ecological impacts. In some areas, sewage runoff has caused eutrophication . Nutrient inputs from sewage promote the growth of primary producers. Detritivores use up dissolved oxygen while breaking down dead producers. Loss of oxygen leads to fish death. In lakes, phosphorus limits cyanobacterial growth more often than nitrogen. In the past, run-off from phosphate-rich household detergents caused huge. Depleted oxygen and released toxins that harm fish and other animals. This led to the use of phosphate-free detergents. Shift to consider primary production on land. Soil nutrients can limit primary production in terrestrial ecosystems. Nitrogen is the most common limiting nutrient in terrestrial ecosystems. Phosphorus can also be a limiting nutrient, especially in older soils.