Literature Review On Eutrophication

It is well known that eutrophication occurs when excess nutrients are added to a body of water and primary productivity is increased. However, the scientific paper, Aquatic eutrophication promotes pathogenic infection in amphibians, puts a direct focus on a specific parasite, Ribeiroia ondatra, and seeks to give evidence that the onset of eutrophication is the driving factor allowing the parasite to disrupt amphibian development. The authors set-out with the goal to provide evidence that eutrophication leads to an increase in the number of snails as intermediate hosts for the parasite, while also increasing the snail size and reducing snail mortality; providing more candidates to pass the parasite onto amphibians to inhibit their development. This research, as stated in the paper, looks to identify eutrophication as the factor promoting this pathogenic infection in the amphibians. Although some have tried to pinpoint this already, no evidence prior had been provided to

With the increased levels of eutrophication occurring worldwide, the authors state that this increase could pose a huge threat to amphibian populations already at risk. Frogs located in certain eutrophic waters (where Ribeiroia ondatra are present) are having to face a higher risk of contracting the parasite which could devastate populations globally. Even worse, they believe that snails may continually compound the effects of eutrophication for years to come; elevating the risk even higher for frogs as time goes on. The authors state that this risk is also heightened by wetland loss as these frogs may have to relocate to eutrophic habitats where these parasites are prevalent. Their research shows the power that these additional nutrients may have on amphibian populations not only now, but also in the years to