• Phosphorus: Key nutrient influencing plant growth in lakes
• Three forms of phosphorus:
– Inorganic orthophosphate (PO43-) (dissolved, usable, determines by pH (H3PO4, H2PO4-, HPO42-)
– metaphosphate (or polyphosphate)
– organically bound phosphate • Total phosphorus includes the amount of phosphorus in solution (reactive) and in particulate form.
• Soluble reactive phosphorus (PO4-3) is the amount of phosphorus in solution that is available to plants.