Fertilizer restrictions are not sufficient to mitigate nutrient pollution and harmful algal blooms in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida

In Florida's Indian River Lagoon (IRL), anthropogenic eutrophication has resulted in harmful algal blooms and catastrophic seagrass losses. Hoping to improve water quality, policy makers enacted fertilizer bans, assuming that this would reduce the nitrogen (N) load. To assess the effectiveness of these bans, seawater and macroalgal samples were collected at 20 sites pre and - five-years post bans and analyzed to determine concentrations of dissolved nutrients and stable nitrogen isotope values (815N). Higher concentrations of ammonium and nitrate were observed post-ban and macroalgal 815N values increased. A comparison of nutrient concentrations and 815N between brown tide (Aureoumbra lagunensis) blooms indicated that the post-ban bloom was more strongly Nenriched with higher 815N values than the pre-ban bloom, which had depleted values in the range of fertilizers. These data indicate a primary role of human waste influence in the IRL, suggesting that current management actions have been insufficient at mitigating eutrophication.

Automated summary

In Florida's Indian River Lagoon, anthropogenic eutrophication has led to harmful algal blooms and seagrass losses. Policy makers implemented fertilizer bans to improve water quality, but the study found that nutrient concentrations and nitrogen isotope values actually increased after the bans were enacted. This suggests that human waste is a primary contributor to the eutrophication problem in the lagoon, highlighting the insufficiency of current management actions.