Habitat-assemblage relations and seasonality of aquatic macrophytes in the upper Niagara River.

摘要

The establishment or suppression of aquatic macrophytes is often a priority of habitat enhancement projects; therefore, predicting the response of aquatic macrophyte communities to habitat modifications may be a useful tool for project design. I developed a suite of predictive models relating aquatic macrophyte presence and biomass to attributes of the physical environment at nearshore sites in the upper Niagara River, where numerous projects are underway. This study clearly demonstrated dissimilar habitat affinities between macrophyte growth-forms, but failed to produce accurate predictive models. This study is the first to document non-native Butomus umbellatus in the Niagara River, which was identified at 21% of sites sampled, despite being absent from previous reports as recent as 2002. I also conducted bi-weekly vegetation monitoring at nearshore locations between early-May and mid-September 2013. Although missing observations precluded statistical analyses, patterns in quadrat coverage captured variable seasonality between several common taxa.