Submersed Littoral Vegetation Distribution: Field Quantification and Experimental Analysis of Sediment Types from Onondaga Lake, New York

Abstract

Abstract : Onondaga Lake, located in upstate New York near Syracuse, has been heavily impacted by industrial and domestic effluent. Due to these impacts, the native littoral vegetation had largely disappeared. The primary purpose of this research is to revegetate the littoral zone of the lake. In order to achieve this goal, field and greenhouse studies were performed to evaluate factors limiting the growth of aquatic plants. Species selected for greenhouse studies included sago pondweed, Eurasian watermilfoil, water celery, elodea, curly-leaf pondweed, waterchestnut, American pondweed, white water-lily, cattail, arrowhead, and rigid-leaf arrowhead. Only 13 percent of 3,497 quadrats examined in the lake had aquatic plants. The most common plant was sago pondweed (Potamogeton pectinatus, 11 percent); water stargrass (Heteranthera dubia, 2 percent), curly-leaf pondweed (Potamogeton crispus, 0.3 percent), coontail (Ceratophyllum demersum, 0.3 percent), and Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum, 0.06 percent) were also found. Aquatic plants, Macrophytes, Littoral zone, Sediment.