Accelerated eutrophication of lakes in the United States: Ecological response to human activities☆

Abstract Whatever the natural rate of eutrophication may be, the influences of human cultural activities typically accelerate the process, often leading to drastic disturbances of freshwater ecosystems and highly undesirable results. Various known actions may lead to rearrangement of plant nutrients in the environment or to making them far more easily accessible than is normal for biological use and processes. Notable sources of nutrients or bases of change are municipal sewage and urban drainage, select industrial wastes, rural lands with their agricultural uses, and atmospheric precipitation. The most promising remedial approaches will be those which curtail the nutrient input to the aquatic system.