The influence of groundwater flow on the distribution and abundance of aquatic plants in some Wisconsin lakes

Abstract

The inflow or outflow of groundwater into lakes could influence the distribution or abundance of aquatic plants in a variety of ways including the input of nutrients, toxicants, or other water chemistry parameters; temperature differences; or habitat differences caused by water flow. Our objective was to search for distribution patterns in the presence or abundance of individual plant species or the distribution of community biomass that correlated with groundwater flow for 45 plant species in 46 lakes where plant, water depth, substrate type, and groundwater flow data were available. There was no convincing evidence for any strong influence of groundwater flow on the distribution, abundance, or biomass of aquatic plants in the lakes examined.