Within this post I want to explore some of the aquatic impacts associated with the poor waste mismanagement that I have hitherto discussed.

Cattle faeces has been calculated to contain approximately 0.79% ammonia, 0.43% potassium and most crucially - 0.43% phosphorous (Bond et al. 2014.), which is singled out as the ‘primary biological limiting factor’ for most aquatic species.

Stream, lake and riparian environments may all undergo the process of eutrophication when subjected to such nutrient rich inundation of animal waste. The response of eutrophication or ‘hypertrophication’ most commonly causes the sudden explosion of large algal blooms in the ecosystem, that can even be seen from space in the most extreme cases!

Algal bloom in Lake Erie

These algal blooms have a very unfavourable cascade effect on the remaining part of the ecosystem, ‘algal mats’ can cause the lower parts of the water column to become shaded and shift previously favourable photic zones into darkness, rendering the environment unfit for photosynthesis and hence eradicating some plant species. This was investigated by Croel (et al. 2011) who investigated the effects of cattle waste on Californian vernal pool plants in experimental mesocosms’ and saw a sharp reduction in species richness and abundance.

Furthermore, such blooms cause the aquatic system to become deleted in oxygen - this ‘anoxia’ is caused by increased respiratory activity by the algae and eventually depletes the waters oxygen reservoir.

As well as anoxia, the turbidity - or water transparency is severely effected by the injection of waste into the system.

These two factors lead to acutely adverse effects on species diversity, an interesting study I uncovered that relates to this, is a paper by Schmutzer (et al. 2008) that explores the impact of cattle waste on amphibian larvae on the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee, U.S.A. In general, the species richness and diversity of amphibian larvae are seen to be considerably greater in wetlands without cattle, which I can imagine you don't find especially shocking. The associated poor conditions also cause the extermination of vast fish stocks, as there food sources have been lost and the anoxic conditions suffocate them in the water.

These ecosystem responses are experienced naturally in aquatic ecosystems, but are considered to be exacerbated tremendously by the poor waste management from intensive animal farming that I have already explained. In my opinion I think it is unacceptable to knowingly inflict this stress on such fragile habitats, what do you think of the situation? Please let me know. Thanks