Fertilizer restrictions are not sufficient to mitigate nutrient pollution and harmful algal blooms in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida.

In Florida's Indian River Lagoon (IRL), anthropogenic eutrophication has resulted in harmful algal blooms and catastrophic seagrass losses. Hoping to improve water quality, policy makers enacted fertilizer bans, assuming that this would reduce the nitrogen (N) load. To assess the effectiveness of these bans, seawater and macroalgal samples were collected at 20 sites "pre" and ~ five-years "post" bans and analyzed to determine concentrations of dissolved nutrients and stable nitrogen isotope values (δN).

Septic system-groundwater-surface water couplings in waterfront communities contribute to harmful algal blooms in Southwest Florida.

As human population growth has expanded in Southwest Florida, water quality has become degraded with an increased occurrence of harmful algal blooms (HABs). Red tide (Karenia brevis) originating offshore, intensifies in nearshore waters along Florida's Gulf Coast, and blue-green algae (Microcystis spp.) originating in Lake Okeechobee is discharged into the Caloosahatchee River.