Variations in shoreline vegetation and turbidity of shallow lakes

Abstract

Shoreline vegetation provides vital ecological services and can impact water quality of shallow lakes. We determined the area and composition of shoreline vegetation for 20 shallow lakes of varying turbidities in the Prairie Parkland Province of Minnesota. We examined differences in shoreline vegetation between clear and turbid lakes and identified relationships between shoreline vegetation and several lake environmental variables (lake depth, submerged vegetation cover, turbidity, chlorophyll-a, total phosphorus, Ca+Mg, conductivity, and pH). In contrast to turbid lakes, the clear lakes had greater emergent and submerged vegetation cover. Typha spp. dominated the shorelines of clear lakes, while woody vegetation dominated the shorelines of the turbid lakes. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed depth and chlorophyll-a concentrations were related to emergent vegetation composition. The percent shoreline of Typha spp. was negatively associated with chlorophyll-a concentrations and the percent shoreline of woody vegetation was positively associated with water depth.