EUTROPHICATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does eutrophication mean? 

• EUTROPHICATION (noun)
  The noun EUTROPHICATION has 1 sense:

1. excessive nutrients in a lake or other body of water, usually caused by runoff of nutrients (animal waste, fertilizers, sewage) from the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life; the decomposition of the plants depletes the supply of oxygen, leading to the death of animal life

  Familiarity information: EUTROPHICATION used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EUTROPHICATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Excessive nutrients in a lake or other body of water, usually caused by runoff of nutrients (animal waste, fertilizers, sewage) from the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life; the decomposition of the plants depletes the supply of oxygen, leading to the death of animal life

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Context example:

he argued that the controlling factor in eutrophication is not nitrate but phosphate

Hypernyms ("eutrophication" is a kind of...):

biological process; organic process (a process occurring in living organisms)

 Context examples 

Continued eutrophication essentially kills a lake, with an overgrowth of algae starving its waters of oxygen and leaving fish and other freshwater species unable to breathe.

(Ancient lakes: eyes into the past, and the future, National Science Foundation)

A major effect of eutrophication, is a loss of biodiversity.

(Ancient lakes: eyes into the past, and the future, National Science Foundation)

Unfortunately, increasing nutrient concentrations and the consequences of eutrophication have been recorded for most of the ancient lakes, including Victoria (on the border of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda), Baikal (Russia), Valencia (Venezuela), Titicaca (Peru) and Ohrid (Macedonia).

(Ancient lakes: eyes into the past, and the future, National Science Foundation)