Organic phosphate isotopes method offers a new way to track pollutants in the environment

Plants need phosphorus, an essential nutrient, to grow. This nutrient is present in fertilizers and applied to crops to increase their yields. One downside of too much phosphorus in this agricultural environment is it can creep into lakes, rivers and other water bodies, causing water quality problems such as algae blooms, which remove oxygen from the water and create dead zones, thus killing fish and other aquatic life.