Heath Korell Jenna Davis Nick Porter Sean Taylor Assessment of macrophytes and sediment depth accumulation at OX Ranch Heath Korell Jenna Davis Nick Porter Sean Taylor

Outline Rationale and study area Methods Results from data Recommendations for macrophyte control

Rationale Severe overgrowth of macrophyte species Natural Eutrophication Could lead anoxic conditions Potential for fish kill

Methods Sediment Sampling K-B Corer Analyzed Creates a vacuum for the sediment Analyzed Biomass Wet weight Dry weight Ash weight

Methods Macrophyte Sampling Large Macrophyte Sampler Analyzed Phosphorous Analysis Biomass Wet weight Dry weight Ash weight

Types of Macrophytes we gathered Oaks Pondweed Coontail

Milfoil Duckweed

Site 1 core results In this graph I have depth in cm on the y axis, starting at 0 at the water sediment interface. On the X-axis I have % of organic matter in each strata. On the right figure I have depth of sediment starting at the water sediment interface in cm on the y and % water content on the x axis. As you can see the % organic matter more than doubles going from 7 cm with 2.99% to 6.85% at a depth of 9 cm. I believe that this is due to the declining % of water content in these strata, and getting closer to the clay base of the lake.

Site 2 core results In this graph I have depth in cm on the y axis, starting at 0 at the water sediment interface. On the X-axis I have % of organic matter in each strata. As can be seen in this graph the % organic matter starts to increase right away and I believe that this is because of the increase input of phosphorus due to running through a cattle pasture. On the right figure I have depth of sediment starting at the water sediment interface in cm on the y, and % water content on the x axis. The decrease of % water content is due to getting closer to the clay base of the lake with depth.

Site 3 core results In this graph I have depth in cm on the y axis, starting at 0 at the water sediment interface. On the X-axis I have % of organic matter in each strata. As can be seen in this graph the % organic matter increases at a fairly steady rate until five cm, I believe that this is due to water flowing through the pond and collecting near the outlet so the organic matter is evenly mixed then due to other layers building up on pervious layers gets denser and a higher % of organic matter. then between 6 and 9 cm it stabilizes around 2% On the right figure I have depth of sediment starting at the water sediment interface in cm on the y, and % water content on the x axis. The decrease of % water content is due to getting closer to the clay base of the lake with depth.

Total phosphorous in pond 3 In this figure I have the total phosphorous measured in micrograms per liter on the y axis and 5 different sites on the x axis. As seen in site two there is a large increase in the Total phosphorus this is most likely due to the input due to the inlet from the cattle pasture at site 2. Excluding the 2nd site going up through different sites, there was a steady increase of TP. With site 5 being the highest I think this is due to the density of One explanation that may explain the high phosphorus content at site 5 could be due to the input of littoral vegetation and bioaccumulation of phosphorus.

Biomass

Implications/Recommendations Raking Create macrophyte channels for habitat (Olson et. al, 1998) $495.00 5 ft. Wide

Use a Biological Control Triploid Grass Carp Herbivore Cost 8-9 fish $10-$20/ fish Permit to import carp $23.50 Carp must be certified triploid Certified free of Asian Tapeworm

Summary Core lengths and Macrophyte samples were collect Analysis of core composition and phosphorus Macrophyte genera and their biomass Management Implications