Interactions among water depth, algae, and macrophytes

Abstract

The simultaneous effect of water depth and algae on the growth rate of submersed macrophytes was investigated in this study. Ceratophyllum demersum L. and Myriophyllum verticillatum L. were used as submersed macrophytes. A total of 54, 10 cm length, weighted individual shoots of each species were planted in square plastic pots, filled with lake sediment. All planted plastic pots were positioned in 30 litre capacity plastic buckets, with dechlorinated tap water added to depths of 20, 30 or 40 cm (each depth had three replicates) above the soil surface; 36 buckets were used and each bucket held three pots.The experiment contained two groups; Group I (G I) with 18 buckets containing only planted plastic pots of each species, and Group II (G II) with 18 buckets with plant + algal inoculum. Scenedesmus quadricauda (Turpin) de Brebisson was used as the added test alga. The RGR of C. demersum was found to differ significantly with the depth of the water in both GI and GII. Likewise, significant differences in RGR were found for M. verticillatum for all treatments in both groups. For both species, the no algae added group (GI) had a greater growth rate than the algae added group (GII) in all treatments

Keywords

• Algae
• Macrophytes
• Scenedesmus quadricauda
• Ceratophyllum demersum
• Myriophyllum verticillatum.

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