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Water quality associated with survival of submersed aquatic vegetation along an estuarine gradient

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Abstract

The decline of submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) in tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay has been associated with increasing anthropogenic inputs, and restoration of the bay remains a major goal of the present multi-state “Bay Cleanup” effort. In order to determine SAV response to water quality, we quantified the water column parameters associated with success of transplants and natural regrowth over a three-year period along an estuarine gradient in the Choptank River, a major tributary on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay. The improvement in water quality due to low precipitation and low nonpoint source loadings during 1985–1988 provided a natural experiment in which SAV was able to persist upstream where it had not been for almost a decade. Mean water quality parameters were examined during the growing season (May–October) at 14 sites spanning the estuarine gradient and arrayed to show correspondence with the occurrence of SAV. Regrowth of SAV in the Choptank is associated with mean dissolved inorganic nitrogen <10 μM; mean dissolved phosphate <0.35 μM; mean suspended sediment <20 mg l−1; mean chlorophylla in the water column <15 μg l−1; and mean light attenuation coefficient (Kd) <2 m−1. These values correspond well with those derived in other parts of the Chesapeake, particularly in the lower bay, and may provide managers with values that can be used as target concentrations for nutrient reduction strategies where SAV is an issue.

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  1. Kenneth W. Staver

    Present address: Wye Research and Education Center, Agricultural Experiment Station, P.O. Box 169, 21658, Queenstown, Maryland

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  1. Horn Point Environmental Laboratories Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies, University of Maryland System, 21613, Cambridge, Maryland

    J. Court Stevenson, Lorie W. Staver & Kenneth W. Staver

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Court Stevenson, J., Staver, L.W. & Staver, K.W. Water quality associated with survival of submersed aquatic vegetation along an estuarine gradient. Estuaries 16, 346–361 (1993). https://doi.org/10.2307/1352507

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