The Effect of Fertilizer on Algae Growth

Abstract

Algal growth has been increasing in the waters of Oklahoma due to eutrophication, which is causing major threats to aquatic life. A major cause of eutrophication is agricultural runoff containing fertilizers like Miracle Growth fertilizer (Mcdaris et al 2015). Eutrophication causes a decrease in the dissolved oxygen concentrations which adversely affects aquatic life (Mcdaris et al 2015). In our experiment, we used samples from Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City and added varying amounts of fertilizer and measured algal growth after two weeks. Our results showed that the sample with the highest fertilizer concentration had the highest cell density. However in our study, the control group did not have the lowest cell density.