Nearshore Occurrence of Submersed Aquatic Macrophytes in Relation to Wave Action

The minimum depth of occurrence of submersed aquatic macrophytes (z min ) 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 (z w ; 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.