Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-8zxtt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-08T12:56:28.775Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Changes in the Distribution of Aquatic Plants in a Tropical Swamp

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Patrick L. Osborne  and
Gregory J. Leach
Patrick L. Osborne
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Papua New Guinea, P.O. Box 320 University PO, National Capital District, Papua New Guinea.
Gregory J. Leach
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Papua New Guinea, P.O. Box 320 University PO, National Capital District, Papua New Guinea.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Tropical wetlands are of great ecological importance and are worthy of widespread and vigorous conservation efforts. They are, however, very susceptible to environmental changes which often result from human activities. Waigani swamp near Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, comprises a number of small, shallow lakes, the largest of which, Waigani Lake, has a surface area of 120 ha. This Lake now has nutrient-rich water with very high phytoplankton populations owing to sewage effluent disposal.

Changes in the macrophyte flora and vegetation of Waigani Lake are documented in aerial photographs taken between 1942 and 1981. From 1942 to 1956 the Lake was dominated by emergent vegetation, and there was very little open water. Between 1956 and 1966 this emergent vegetation was replaced by dense stands of nymphaeids. In 1965, sewage disposal into Waigani Lake began and by 1974 only a few small stands of nymphaeids remained. By 1978 no nymphaeids could be found in Waigani Lake. The decline in the nymphaeid cover of Waigani Lake was accompanied by a regression of the surrounding reed-swamp. Two other lakes near Port Moresby are nutrient-poor and have a dominant and diverse macrophyte flora, being probably more comparable with Waigani Lake prior to its enrichment—apart from a recent takeover by a pestiferous free-floating water-fern.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , Winter 1983 , pp. 323 - 329
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allen, E.D. & Spence, D.H.N. (1981). The differential ability of aquatic plants to utilize the inorganic carbon supply in fresh waters. New Phytol., 84(2), pp. 269–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barratt, C.J. (1972). Waigani Swamp. Unpublished manuscript held by The Herbarium, University of Papua New Guinea, P.O. Box 320, University PO, National Capital District, Papua New Guinea: 11 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Boyd, C.E. (1974). Utilization of aquatic plants. Pp. 107–15 in Aquatic Vegetation and its Use and Control (Ed. Mitchell, D.S.). UNESCO, Paris, France: 135 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Brammer, E.S. (1979). Exclusion of phytoplankton in the proximity of dominant Water-soldier (Stratiotes aloides). Freshwater Biology, 9(3), pp. 233–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, C.D.K. (1974). Water Plants of the World. Junk, The Hague, Netherlands: vii + 561 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Howard-Williams, C. (1977). Swamp ecosystems. Malayan Nature Journal, 31(2), pp. 113–25.Google Scholar
Jupp, B.P. & Spence, D.H.N. (1977). Limitations of macrophytes in a eutrophic lake, Loch Leven, I: Effects of phytoplankton. J. Ecol., 65, pp. 175–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nature Conservancy (1965). Report on Broadland. HMSO, London, England, UK: 98 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Nature Conservancy (1977). The Future of Broadland. Nature Conservancy Council, Norwich, England, UK: 17 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Neill, W.T. (1946). Notes on Crocodylus novaeguineae. Copeia, 1, pp. 17–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osborne, P.L. & Moss, B. (1977). Palaeolimnology and trends in the phosphorus and iron budgets of an old man-made lake, Barton Broad, Norfolk. Freshwater Biology, 7, pp. 213–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pallas, M. (1911). The river valleys of East Norfolk. Pp. 214–45 in Types of British Vegetation (Ed. Tansley, A.G.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, UK: xx + 416 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Pearsall, W.H. (1921). The development of vegetation in the English Lakes considered in relation to the general evolution of glacial lakes and rock basins. Proc. Roy. Soc., B, 92, pp. 259–84.Google Scholar
Phillips, G.L., Eminson, D.F. & Moss, B. (1978). A mechanism to account for macrophyte decline in progressively enriched freshwaters. Aquatic Botany, 4, pp. 103–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polunin, N.V.C. (in press). The decomposition of emergent macrophytes in fresh water. Adv. Ecol. Res.Google Scholar
Rzoska, J. (1974). The upper Nile swamps: A tropical wetland study. Freshwater Biology, 4, pp. 1–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saulei, S.M. (1978). The Effect of Eutrophication on a Tropical Lentic Ecosystem (The Waigani Swamp Lake). Honours Thesis, University of Papua New Guinea, P.O. Box 320, University PO, National Capital District, Papua New Guinea: 186 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Schuster, W.H. (1951). A survey of the inland fisheries of the territory of New Guinea and Papua. Aust. J. Mar. Freshw. Res., 2(2), pp. 226–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sculthorpe, C.D. (1967). The Biology of Aquatic Vascular Plants. Edward Arnold, London, England, UK: xviii + 610 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Tansley, A.G. (1939). The British Islands and Their Vegetation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, UK: xxxviii + 930 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Walker, D. (1970). Direction and rate in some British postglacial hydroseres. Pp. 117–39 in The Vegetational History of the British Isles (Ed. Walker, D. & West, R.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, UK: v + 266 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
West, G.J. & Glucksman, J. (1976). Introduction and distribution of exotic fish in Papua New Guinea. PNG Agric. J., 27, pp. 19–48.Google Scholar
Wetzel, R.G. (1979). The role of the littoral zone and detritus in lake metabolism. Arch. Hydrobiol., 13, pp. 145–61.Google Scholar