Nearshore Occurrence of Submersed Aquatic Macrophytes in Relation to Wave Action

Abstract

The minimum depth of occurrence of submersed aquatic macrophytes (zmin) was measured along undisturbed shorelines of four lakes in southern Quebec and found to be strongly correlated (r = 0.86, P < 0.001) with depth of surface wave mixing (zw; calculated from wind velocity and fetch). The slope of the relation did not differ significantly from 1.0 (t-test, P > 0.10) and the intercept did not differ from 0.0 (t-test, P > 0.10). These results support the hypothesis that the nearshore occurrence of submersed aquatic macrophytes is related to wave action.