Molybdenum biota

Short, Z.F., PR. Olson, R.F. Palumbo, J.R. Donaldson, and F.G. Lowman. 1971. Uptake of molybdenum, marked with "Mo, by the biota of Fern Lake, Washington, in a laboratory and a field experiment. Pages 474-485 in D.J. Nelson (ed.). Radionuclides in Ecosystems. Proceedings of the Third National Symposium on Radioecology. Vol. 1. May 10-12, 1971, Oak Ridge, TN. 

The chemical form of phosphorus in the water column available for uptake by biota is important. The biologically available phosphorus is usually taken to be soluble reactive phosphorus (orthophosphate) , i.e. which, upon acidification of a water sample, reacts with added molybdate to yield molybdophosphoric acid, which is then reduced with SnCl2 to the intensely-coloured molybdenum blue complex and is determined spectrophotometrically (Imax = 882 nm). Reduction in inputs of phosphate, for example from point sources or by creating water meadows and buffer strips to contain diffuse runoff, has obviously been one of the major approaches to stemming eutrophication trends and... 

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