A Comparison of Planting Techniques for Submerged Aquatic Vegetation

Abstract

Submerged aquatic vegetation has numerous benefits for aquatic ecosystems, from improving water quality to providing important habitat that supports a diverse food web. This new 6-page publication of the UF/IFAS Department of Soil and Water Sciences describes the breadth of options available to managers who wish to plant SAV at new locations. Because all methods have both benefits and drawbacks, and because all planting locations have different (often unknown) challenges for plant survival, managers may choose to try multiple methods to increase the likelihood for success. Written by Laura Reynolds, Carrie Reinhardt Adams, Enrique Latimer, Charles W. Martin, Christine Rohal, and Jodi Slater.https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ss685

Common Wetland and Aquatic Plants of Lake Apopka, Florida (USA)

“…More detail on habitat types can be found in the Florida Natural Community Classification Guide (Florida Natural Areas Inventory [FNAI], 2010). Several EDIS publications also complement this publication, some with more detail on native wetland plants (e.g., Moore et al 2015), and others covering topics including invasive species terminology (Iannone et al 2021), a guide to nonnative plant lists (Lieurance and Gettys 2019), native wetland and aquatic plant biology (e.g., Rohal et al 2020b;Tootoonchi et al 2019), and SAV planting techniques (Reynolds et al 2020). Bolded botanical terms are defined in a glossary at the end of this document.…”

“…Eelgrass is a beneficial species that is a valuable food source for waterfowl, useful for fish habitat Looby, Reynolds, Adams, Walsh, et al 2021) and spawning areas, and the most abundant native submersed aquatic vegetation in Lake Apopka. It is an obvious choice for revegetation projects (Reynolds et al 2020;Tootoonchi et al 2019).…”

“…Historical presence in the lake, as well as its promising performance in less-than-ideal conditions, has led pondweed to be selected as a major species for restoration of submersed aquatic habitat. Although naturally colonizing populations of Illinois pondweed have not been recently detected in Lake Apopka, some patches have been established via restoration efforts (Reynolds et al 2020;change to Rohal et al 2020b).…”