Aquatic Macrophyte Growth in a Turbid Windswept Lake

High water turbidity developed in the 1970s in shallow windswept Rice Lake, Wisconsin, and created a depauperate macrophyte community that has persisted more than a decade later. In 1989, this flora was characterized by species with early spring growth, summer leaf canopies, and winter tubers or rhizomes. The community was dominated inshore by water lilies (Nymphaea tuberosa and Nuphar variegatum) and offshore by pondweeds (Potamogeton pectinatus and P. natans). Together with coontail (Ceratophyllum demersum), water crowfoot (Ranunculus longirostris), and elodea (Elodea canadensis), the submersed flora reached a summer dry-weight standing crop of only 28–31 g/m2.