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Scientists work to solve phosphate shortage – the dwindling resource required to grow food
Scientists work to solve phosphate shortage – the dwindling resource required to grow food
By 2030, the world’s population is projected to be about 8.5 billion people. Global food security is a major concern for governments – zero hunger is the second most important of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
However, there is a severe conflict between sustainable food production and the use of nonrenewable resources in agricultural systems, particularly phosphate. Phosphorus is a major mineral nutrient required by crop plants for optimal growth and productivity. Phosphate is the only form of phosphorus that plants can absorb — it is often applied to crops as phosphate fertilizer.
Phosphate is obtained through rock mining. Seventy per cent of the world’s phosphate reserves are located in North Africa. China, Russia, South Africa and the United States all have limited quantities of the mineral rock.
Finite resources
Scientists have reported that global phosphate production would peak around 2030, at the same time the global population will reach 8.5 billion people. Several reports have also warned that the global reserve would be depleted within the next 50 to 100 years. Current agricultural practice involves the use of a high amount of phosphate fertilizer in order to achieve optimal plant yield.
This is because of the chemical properties of phosphate, which interacts with soil particlesin a way that makes it difficult for the plant to acquire, leaving a large portion of the element in the soil surface.
Because plants can only uptake small amounts of phosphate, a large majority of fertilizer ends up in unwanted places, like bodies of water, making these practices ecologically and financially unsustainable. It is only reasonable to fathom that as phosphate becomes more expensive and may eventually run out, it not only poses a food security threat, but may also pose political crisis between phosphate rich countries and importing countries.+
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Toxic algae blooms: What you should know about the mysterious phenomena
Algae can produce some of the most harmful natural toxins known to science
In August 1961, a bizarre scene unfolded in the skies above the coastal town of Capitola, Calif., on the northern end of Monterey Bay.
Residents watched in terror as seabirds dive-bombed into the ground at kamikaze speed and violently vomited fish. The carcasses of hundreds of birds were strewn in the streets.
The strange incident partly inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 horror flick The Birds, but exactly what happened remained a mystery for five decades.
- Toxic algae bloom off West Coast might be largest ever
- Lake Erie’s algae explosion blamed on farmers
In 2011, a research group revealed that the birds were victims of poisoning by domoic acid, a potent toxin produced by algae that targets the nervous system, inducing severe seizures and killing wildlife.
A bloom thought to be the largest ever observed on the West Coast of North America is currently menacing Monterey Bay with unprecedented levels of domoic acid. Wild and farmed shellfish operations from California to B.C. have been forced to stop harvesting until the bloom clears.
While toxic algae are common in waters across the planet, there is mounting evidence that the frequency and severity of these events are on the rise and that global climate change may exacerbate the problem.
Here’s some important background on toxic algal blooms and how they could affect you.
What are toxic algal blooms?
The massive growth of algae on the West Coast falls under a category of natural phenomena that scientists call harmful algal blooms, or HABs. They are often called red tides because they sometimes render the water a rusty-crimson colour. This is a misnomer, however, as algal blooms can be many colours and aren’t necessarily connected to tides.
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