Macrophyte surveys were conducted on Sparkling Lake, Vilas County, Wisconsin in mid-July of the years 2001 to 2004. Eight sites were chosen that corresponded to trap survey sites for rusty crayfish and represented the range of macrophyte communities in the lake (figure 1). These sites corresponded to trap survey sites 1, 4, 10, 16, 20, 23, 27, and 35. At each site, we swam a transect perpendicular to shore from 0 to 4 m depths. A tape measure extended from shore to the 4 m depth contour, and buoys were placed at the 1, 2, 3, and 4 m depth contours. We visually estimated the percent cover of each macrophyte species within a 1 sq m quadrat. Quadrats were placed along each transect at 1 m intervals. Thus, we used fewer quadrats on transects with a steeper slope. At site 23, we only found a macrophyte on one event: Vallisneria sp. in 2004.
Transect: corresponds to trap survey site number.
Quadrat: occur at 1 m intervals starting from shore (0) and going until you reach the 4 m depth contour (highest number).
Substrate: substrate within the quadrat categorized as muck, sand, gravel, cobble, logs, leaves, or any combination of these.
Abundance: percent cover of each species within the quadrat determined by visual estimation. The percent covers of all species within a quadrat do NOT necessarily add to 100.
Depth Interval: depth interval that each quadrat was in. Quadrats between 0 and 1 m deep are in depth interval 1, those between 1 and 2 m deep are in depth interval 2, etc.
Figure 1: Macrophyte transects in Sparkling Lake are depicted as white lines
References Wilson, L. R. 1935. Lake development and plant succession in Vilas County, Wisconsin. Ecological Monographs 5:207-247.
Protocol Format
Process
Protocol ID
biocom_sparkling_macrophyte1
Protocol Type
field
