Frontiers | Soil suitability assessment for sustainable intensification of maize production in the humid Savannah of Ghana frontiersin.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from frontiersin.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Nutrient enrichment from increased anthropogenic activities has been associated with algal blooms and the proliferation of aquatic weeds such as water hyacinth. It is a recent phenomenon in developing nations in the tropical monsoon regions where the link between water quality parameters and water hyacinth infestation is unclear. This study investigates the relationship between phosphorus, nitrogen and chlorophyll-a on the distribution of water hyacinths in Lake Tana located in the tropical highlands of Ethiopia. In this 3,000 km2 lake, water hyacinths have expanded from almost none to 25 km2 during the last ten years. Water samples were taken at 27 nearshore stations with different levels of water hyacinth infestation at 0.5 m depth and the lake bottom. In addition, samples were taken near the river mouths to calculate the total nutrient loading of the rivers. Samples were analyzed for total phosphorus, total nitrogen and chlorophyll-a. The results show that water hyacinths were found