Friday, November 24, 2006

Lake Victoria's Ecological Decline Linked to Climate Change

From Science News of the Week, November 24:
U.N. Conference Puts Spotlight on Reducing Impact of Climate Change.
by Richard Stone and John Bohannon

NAIROBI--For the past 6 years, Louis Verchot has had a ringside seat for Lake Victoria's ecological decline. Intense rainstorms pounding down on degraded land have swept in millions of tons of phosphorus-laden sediments from the Nyando River, transforming the lake from a nutrient-limited ecosystem into one with a gross excess of nutrients. On a visit last spring, says Verchot, a soil specialist at the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, the water was so choked with an algal bloom that a glass of it "looked like spinach soup." [more]

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