Novel Sampling Methodology for Identifying Presence and Absence of Aquatic Macrophyte Species in Two Lakes in Northern British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

Aquatic macrophytes provide essential food and habitat for all levels of aquatic life, as well as have a critical role in nutrient cycling. Many aquatic macrophytes are submerged for part or all of their life cycle, which makes them difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to sample. During a study of two lakes, Bednesti and Berman, in northern British Columbia, Canada, we developed a nondestructive, cost-effective, and time-sensitive sampling methodology for aquatic macrophytes. With two people sampling in a single boat, 90 randomly selected sample sites with four transects each were completed over five 4-hr sampling periods. This methodology produced presence/absence data, which would be an effective methodology for monitoring aquatic macrophyte populations in freshwater environments. The technique allowed us to identify aquatic macrophytes at a species level, regardless of emergent or submergent growing patterns. This technique was used to study the impacts of residential development on freshwater aquatic macrophyte communities and provided useful and easily obtainable data for that purpose. Natural resource and conservation fields may find this technique useful to monitor aquatic environments for specific, rare, or invasive aquatic macrophyte species in an efficient and cost-effective manner.