In a village in Karnataka, people started cultivating crops all around a lake which was always filled with water. They added fertilisers to their field in order to enhance the yield. Soon they discovered that the water body was completely covered with green floating plants and fishes started dying in large numbers.
Analyse the situation and give reasons for excessive growth of plants and death of fish in the lake.
Answer:
Since people used excessive fertilisers in the fields, they were carried down to the lake during rains. As many fertilisers contain phosphates and nitrates, the water body became enriched with these chemicals. These chemicals promote excessive growth of aquatic plants and the surface of water was completely covered with plants (eutrophication).
Depletion of light in the water body and insufficient availability of dissolved oxygen and nutrients resulted in the death of fish.