Hypoxia and Medicine

Biology confusion. 10 points to thebest answer!?

How did the Gulf of Mexico’s dead zone form? All the fish and invertebrate species migrated elsewhere. An oil spill killed all the species there. Fertilizer runoff from farming caused populations of algae to grow exponentially. Hurricanes destroyed the coastline.

Public Comments

1. Fertilizer runoff from farming caused populations of algae to grow exponentially. This led to a low O2 deadzone.
2. The dead zone is caused by nutrient enrichment from the Mississippi River, particularly nitrogen and phosphorous. Watersheds within the Mississippi River Basin drain much of the United States, from Montana to Pennsylvania and extending southward along the Mississippi River. Most of the nitrogen input comes from major farming states in the Mississippi River Valley, including Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Nitrogen and phosphorous enter the river through upstream runoff of fertilizers, soil erosion, animal wastes, and sewage. Nutrient overloading and algal blooms lead to eutrophication (excess plant growth & lower oxygen), which has been shown to reduce benthic (under water) biomass and biodiversity. Hypoxic water (low oxygen) supports fewer organisms and has been linked to massive fish kills in the Black Sea and Gulf of Mexico.