Abstract
Patches of submerged vegetation can be important sites of primary production and habitat for organisms in many aquatic ecosystems. In the tidal freshwater Hudson River they make up about 6% of the river bottom area. Direct sampling of water masses passing through patches of vegetation and week-long continuous monitoring of water characteristics were used to determine plant effects on dissolved oxygen and suspended sediments. Vegetated areas could have dissolved oxygen concentrations substantially higher than in the main channel and suspended sediments and turbidity were frequently higher in vegetated areas. Patches of Vallisneria americana had variable capacity to maintain super-saturated oxygen concentrations; patch size accounted for some of the variability whereas larger-scale differences in main-channel influent water also contributed. Differences in turbidity among sites were harder to account for; width of plant beds and abundance of neighboring vegetated areas contributed weakly to predictions of local turbidity. Functional heterogeneity within ecosystems is common and attempts to explain variability may require understanding different controlling factors for different functions and appreciating that factors operate at multiple scales.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the NYSDEC HR Estuary Program, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and an NSF-LTREB (DEB 0075265). Susan Dye, Serena Ciparis, Heather Malcolm, and Eric Bedan assisted with various field and laboratory tasks. This paper is a contribution to the program of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies.
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Findlay, S.E.G., Nieder, W.C., Blair, E.A. et al. Multi-Scale Controls on Water Quality Effects of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation in the Tidal Freshwater Hudson River. Ecosystems 9, 84–96 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-004-0053-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-004-0053-7