In xi 'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, lakes and rivers have turned green and red as algae blooms flourish in the hot weather.
When they're still young, he says, farmers toss animal waste in the ponds and allow the tilapia to feed on the algae bloom that follows.
Overfertilization can also harm crops — as well as human babies if nitrogen seeps into their drinking water — and often triggers algae blooms and "dead zones."
The resort city has been the site of large algae blooms.
Such algae blooms, which can choke other forms of aquatic life, have grown increasingly apparent in lakes and coastal waters recent years as a result of excessive use of agricultural chemicals.
Wu A P, Zhang T T, He M, et al. preliminary study on the allelopathic inhibitionof Salicylic acid on red algae blooms fish and its relevant toxicology[J]. Journal of Biology, 2008,25(5):44-47.
In the midst of a full algae bloom the waters of Kenya's Lake Magadi run red.
China's three main lakes, Tai, Chaohu and Dianchi, have all had algae blooms in recent years.
Thick Enteromorpha algae blooms block the small amounts of sunlight that reach deeper-dwelling marine life.
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