You are here:
Physical habitat structure of the lake shoreline and littoral zone -- How important is it?
Citation:
KAUFMANN, P. R., D. V. PECK, AND S. G. PAULSEN. Physical habitat structure of the lake shoreline and littoral zone -- How important is it? Presented at Joint ASLO/NABS Meeting, Santa Fe, NM, June 06 - 11, 2010.
Impact/Purpose:
The recent National Lakes Assessment (NLA) included the first national assessment of littoral and lakeshore physical habitat.
Description:
The recent National Lakes Assessment (NLA) included the first national assessment of littoral and lakeshore physical habitat. It quantified water depth, surface characteristics, bank morphology, lake level fluctuations, substrate, fish concealment features, aquatic macrophytes, lakeshore vegetation, and human land use. We summarized this data with four integrative measures of lake condition: 1) lakeshore human disturbance extent and intensity; 2) riparian vegetation cover and structure; 3) littoral cover complexity, including woody snags and aquatic macrophytes; and 4) a combined index of littoral and riparian habitat structural complexity. In this first nationwide lakes assessment, we concluded that lack of vegetative cover and near-shore habitat complexity are the most important of the physical and chemical stressors we evaluated in lakes and reservoirs, both in terms of numbers of lakes affected and relative risk to biota. Attributable-risk analysis suggested that in 42% of lakes with poor biological condition, nationwide (22%), poor condition could be attributed to poor vegetation cover. These results suggest that management of littoral and lakeshore physical habitat should receive emphasis more in line with that traditionally placed on nutrients and acidification.