Water quality

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Nutrients

Phosphorous

Plants (including algae) require three macro nutrients to grow: Nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous. Of these three, phosphorous is the often the "growth-limiting" nutrient. i.e. the local environment may have an abundance of nitrogen and potassium, but algae won't develop until phosphorous is added too.

Major sources of man-made phosphorous in the environment include agricultural fertilizers...

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  Algae on Rocks in Mississauga, ON Ryan Hodnett

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External Links

• Environment Canada on Phosphorus and Excess Algal Growth
• Lake Simcoe phosphorus reduction strategy

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Refers to the conditions in which an organism lives and survives or the conditions in which an organism resides. These conditions can be described as aspects of a “physical”, “social” or an “economic” environment, depending on the perspective perceived by the observer.