Keeping Invasive Aquatic Plants at Bay

摘要

Plants are a part of any healthy aquatic environment. They release oxygen into the system, provide cover and reproductive sites for fish and invertebrates and can even serve as a type of filtration system to remove unwanted contaminants. Native plantshave developed in harmony with the systems in which they are naturally found. Most native plants develop a balance in their environment with natural constraints, such as turbidity, loss of fertility, forage feeding fish and insects, that over time usually prevent the plant from becoming a burden on the system. Problems occur, however, when non-native plants are introduced into the system free from their native pests and predators. If the introduced plants out-compete and displace the native plants andbecome a burden the system, they are considered invasive.