Some Chemical Factors Influencing the Distribution of Aquatic Plants in Minnesota

Abstract

Minnesota has an abundance and great variety of aquatic plants growing in 10,000 lakes and more than 16,000 miles of streams. The lakes, which cover more than 5 per cent of the state's surface, lie at the headwaters of the Mississippi River, St. Lawrence River, and Hudson Bay drainage basins. They vary in form from the rocky shored oligotrophic lakes of the northeast, through the typically eutrophic lakes of the central and northern morainic areas to the shallow prairie lakes of the southwestern and extreme western counties, and range in size from a few acres to several hundred square miles. The surface and underlying geology of Minnesota are not only reflected in the number, form, and size of the lakes but also in the chemical quality of their waters. Nearly the entire carbonate range of fresh surface waters is represented as well as the lower end of the sulphate or alkali water series that is most characteristically developed in more western and arid regions.