Reference Terms
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eutrophication
Eutrophication is the enrichment of an ecosystem with chemical nutrients, typically compounds containing nitrogen, phosphorus, or both. Eutrophication can be a natural process in lakes, occurring as they age through geological time. Eutrophication was recognized as a pollution problem in European and North American lakes and reservoirs in the mid-20th century. Human activities can accelerate the rate at which nutrients enter ecosystems. Runoff from agriculture and development, pollution from septic systems and sewers, and other human-related activities increase the flux of both inorganic nutrients and organic substances into terrestrial, aquatic, and coastal marine ecosystems (including coral reefs).
Related Stories
1
2
Earth & Climate News
February 21, 2026
Feb. 18, 2026 Ocean waves are a vast and steady source of renewable energy, but capturing their power efficiently has long frustrated engineers. A researcher at The University of Osaka has now explored a bold new approach: a gyroscopic wave energy converter that ...
Feb. 18, 2026 As the planet warms, many expected ecosystems to change faster and faster. Instead, a massive global study shows that species turnover has slowed by about one-third since the 1970s. Nature’s constant reshuffling appears to be driven more by ...
Feb. 17, 2026 NASA has pulled off a high-flying aurora investigation, launching three rockets into the glowing northern lights over Alaska. One mission targeted mysterious dark patches called black auroras, while ...
Feb. 17, 2026 For years, satellite data suggested that autumn snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere was actually increasing — a surprising twist in a warming world. But a new analysis reveals that this apparent growth was an illusion caused by improving ...
Feb. 16, 2026 Even Antarctica’s toughest native insect can’t escape the reach of plastic pollution. Scientists have discovered that Belgica antarctica — a tiny, rice-sized midge and the southernmost insect on Earth — is already ingesting microplastics in ...
Feb. 15, 2026 Scientists have developed a powerful new way to trace the journey of water across the planet by reading tiny atomic clues hidden inside it. Slightly heavier versions of hydrogen and oxygen, called isotopes, shift in predictable ways as water ...
Feb. 12, 2026 Long before agriculture, humans were transforming Europe’s wild landscapes. Advanced simulations show that hunting and fire use by Neanderthals and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers reshaped forests and ...
Feb. 12, 2026 A new scientific review challenges the headline-grabbing claim that Yellowstone’s returning wolves triggered one of the strongest trophic cascades on Earth. Researchers found that the reported 1,500% surge in willow growth was based on circular ...
Feb. 12, 2026 Coral reefs, worth an estimated $9.8 trillion a year to humanity, are in far worse shape than previously realized. A massive international study found that during the 2014–2017 global marine heatwave, more than half of the world’s reefs suffered ...
Feb. 12, 2026 Even when Earth was locked in its most extreme deep freeze, the planet’s climate may not have been as silent and still as once believed. New research from ancient Scottish rocks reveals that during Snowball Earth — when ice sheets reached the ...
Feb. 10, 2026 Around 1550, life on Rapa Nui began changing in ways long misunderstood. New research reveals that a severe drought, lasting more than a century, dramatically reduced rainfall on the already water-scarce island, reshaping how people lived, ...
Feb. 10, 2026 Methane levels in Earth’s atmosphere surged faster than ever in the early 2020s, and scientists say the reason was a surprising mix of chemistry and climate. A temporary slowdown in the atmosphere’s ability to break down methane allowed the gas ...
Latest Headlines
updated 12:56 pm ET
Feb. 20, 2026 Scientists at Stanford have unveiled the first-ever global map of rare earthquakes that rumble deep within Earth’s mantle rather than its crust. Long debated and notoriously difficult to confirm, ...
Feb. 18, 2026 Life on Earth may have learned to breathe oxygen long before oxygen filled the skies. MIT researchers traced a key oxygen-processing enzyme back ...
Feb. 17, 2026 When tens of thousands of earthquakes shook Santorini, the cause wasn’t just shifting tectonic plates—it was rising magma. Scientists tracked about 300 million cubic meters of molten rock pushing ...
Feb. 10, 2026 Satellite imagery reveals how the 2026 Winter Olympics are spread across northern Italy, from alpine valleys to historic cities. Events are hosted in mountain resorts, while Milan and Verona frame ...
Feb. 9, 2026 Forests around the world are quietly transforming, and not for the better. A massive global analysis of more than 31,000 tree species reveals that forests are becoming more uniform, increasingly ...
Feb. 9, 2026 A common iron mineral hiding in soil turns out to be far better at trapping carbon than scientists realized. Its surface isn’t uniform — it’s a nanoscale patchwork of positive and negative ...
Feb. 8, 2026 Researchers have found a surprising way to turn sunflower oil waste into a powerful bread upgrade. By replacing part of wheat flour with partially defatted sunflower seed flour, breads became ...
Feb. 8, 2026 Tiny marine plankton that build calcium carbonate shells play an outsized role in regulating Earth’s climate, quietly pulling carbon from the atmosphere and helping lock it away in the deep ocean. ...
Feb. 8, 2026 Pumas returning to Patagonia have begun hunting mainland penguins that evolved without land predators. Scientists estimate that more than 7,000 adult penguins were killed in just four years, many of ...
Feb. 6, 2026 Arctic sea ice helps cool the planet and influences weather patterns around the world, but it is disappearing faster than ever as the climate warms. Scientists have now developed a new forecasting ...