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An objective method for sampling the macrophyte vegetation in lakes

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Summary

Methods are described how to select a representative sample of lakes from a certain region and how to objectively sample the macrophyte vegetation in the selected lakes in order to classify the lakes on the basis of their macrophyte composition. The vegetation has been sampled along profiles (1 profile = 2 belt transects).

The variation of the vegetation in lakes is considered a function of the lake area and lake-shore development. The method calculates the number of profiles needed for a representative description of the vegetation in lakes with different areas and lake-shore development. The lakes have been grouped into geometric size classes, where the basic number of profiles increases with one from one class to another.

The profiles are arranged at right angles along the longest line in each lake. The longest line also describes the main extension of the lake. The method has been tested ‘dry’ in three intensively investigated lakes where the distribution of the different communities have been mapped. Longest line and calculated profiles have been constructed on the maps. Actual and estimated distributions (along the lake-shore) and vegetation areas of distinguished plant communities have been compared in the lake as a whole as well as in parts of the lake. Actual and estimated values concerning community distribution along the shore correspond very well. A few differences have been noticed for plant communities concentrated to lake-ends or with a limited distribution. The areas for different communities can be satisfactory estimated for a lake as a whole, but they are not yet reliable when large differences between parts of a lake occur.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Ecology, Östra Vallgatan 14, S-223 61, Lund, Sweden

    Sven Jensén

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  1. Sven Jensén
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Additional information

Nomenclature of macrophytes follows Lid (1974).

I am grateful to Professor Nils Nalmer, head of the Department of Plant Ecology, Lund Sweden, and Dr. Eddy van der Maarel, University of Nijmegen, Holland, for valuable advice and discussions. I thank my wife, Fil. K and. Eva Waldemarson-Jensén, Institute of Ecological Botany, Uppsala, and my colleagues at the Department in Lund for valuable discussions and support. Among others I thank particularly Dr. Michael Pearson, University of Nottingham, England, for reading my manuscript, Mrs. Mimmi Varga for drawing the figures, and Mrs. Brita Billstein for typewriting the text and the tables.

This work has been supported by grants from the Swedish Natural Science Research Council, Kungliga Fysiografiska Sällskapet, Lund, and the University of Lund, for which I am duly grateful.

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Jensén, S. An objective method for sampling the macrophyte vegetation in lakes. Vegetatio 33, 107–118 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00205906

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