Nutrient cycling in the Columbia River Basin eutrophication in part due to the use of the river and its tributaries to irrigate over seven million acres of farmland, an extraction that comprises an average of 93 percent of daily water use in the basin. Natural run-off caused by precipitation and snowpack melt across agricultural lands further transports more of these nutrients into the river. In the late 1990s, the nitrogen load in the Columbia river was over twice the concentration historically observed. Forests are important terrestrial sinks for nutrients due to the ability of vegetation to sequester excess nutrients into their biomass. Additionally, plant roots stabilize soils
Artificial reproduction Artificial reproduction Artificial reproduction/propagation is the creation of new life by other than the natural means available to an organism. Examples include artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, cloning and embryonic splitting, or cleavage. Cutting plants' stems and placing them in compost is also a form of artificial reproduction. We can grow many plants from one plant by using the man-made methods. The process of growing many plants from one plant by man-made methods is called artificial propagation of plants. A number of methods of artificial propagation of plants are used in agriculture (for raising crops), and horticulture (cultivation of vegetables,