Emergence of seedlings of aquatic macrophytes from lake sediments

Abstract

Sediment samples were collected in May 1980 from 11 stations at five sites in Lake Wabamun. Emergence of seedlings was recorded in a greenhouse at 19 °C for 120 days. The sediments were then chilled at 4 °C for 120 days and reexposed to greenhouse conditions for a further 90 days. Total seedling densities varied from 0 to 2335 m⁻². Depth and sediment texture each accounted for 20% of the variance in seedling numbers. Discharge of thermal effluent from the Wabamun generating station also caused substantial variation in seedling number; seedling numbers at the shallowest Wabamun Outlet station were over four times those at any other site. Chilling of the sediment samples in the laboratory caused further emergence of seedlings from the four sites with the highest seedling densities in the initial treatment. Total numbers were up to 50% of those for seedlings that emerged during the initial exposure to greenhouse conditions. Potamogeton pectinatus and P. pusillus were most common among the seedlings of six species. Two of the three most common macrophytes in the lake were rare as seedlings, while no seedlings were recorded for the most common angiosperm, Myriophyllum exalbescens. Reproduction by seed makes a secondary contribution to the dynamics of the vegetation of Lake Wabamun.