How does phosphorus controls aquatic plant growth?

Question

serious anwsers please!

Answer 1

Everything needs phosphorous to live - it's part of ATP (energy molecule) and DNA. It's also one of the top three plant nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous, potash). Phosphorous is usually low in aquatic environments, so what is there is taken up quickly. Add some (like the old phosphate-laden detergents) and you get waterwats clogged with aquatic plants and algae. Remove it, and growth/number of plants is limited to those most efficient in getting it.

Answer 2

The three nutrients plants need in larger amounts are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. The other nutrients are needed in much smaller amounts, so plants generally show a deficiency in one of those top three, first. NItrogen and potassium are generally abundant in freshwater systems, but phosphorus is almost always limited (i.e. it is the limiting FACTOR).

(BTW, this is rapidly becoming not the case! Agricultural soils in the Midwest are now so saturated with phosphorus that when erosion occurs and the soil ends up in the rivers, it carries a LOT of phosphorus with it.)

The limiting factor is always what controls a production process, because when it's gone, no more production takes place.

Hope this helps. Good luck!