Between- and within-lake responses of macrophyte richness metrics to shoreline developmen

Lake and Reservoir Management
By: , and 

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Abstract

Aquatic habitat in littoral environments can be affected by residential development of shoreline areas. We evaluated the relationship between macrophyte richness metrics and shoreline development to quantify indicator response at 2 spatial scales for Minnesota lakes. First, the response of total, submersed, and sensitive species to shoreline development was evaluated within lakes to quantify macrophyte response as a function of distance to the nearest dock. Within-lake analyses using generalized linear mixed models focused on 3 lakes of comparable size with a minimal influence of watershed land use. Survey points farther from docks had higher total species richness and presence of species sensitive to disturbance. Second, between-lake effects of shoreline development on total, submersed, emergent-floating, and sensitive species were evaluated for 1444 lakes. Generalized linear models were developed for all lakes and stratified subsets to control for lake depth and watershed land use. Between-lake analyses indicated a clear response of macrophyte richness metrics to increasing shoreline development, such that fewer emergent-floating and sensitive species were correlated with increasing density of docks. These trends were particularly evident for deeper lakes with lower watershed development. Our results provide further evidence that shoreline development is associated with degraded aquatic habitat, particularly by illustrating the response of macrophyte richness metrics across multiple lake types and different spatial scales.

Study Area

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Between- and within-lake responses of macrophyte richness metrics to shoreline developmen
Series title Lake and Reservoir Management
DOI 10.1080/10402381.2013.828806
Volume 29
Issue 3
Year Published 2013
Language English
Publisher Taylor & Francis
Contributing office(s) Coop Res Unit Leetown
Description 14 p.
First page 179
Last page 193
Country United States
State Minnesota
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
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