Establishing native submersed aquatic plant communities for fish habitat

Aquatic plants are desirable in reservoirs for fish habitat and for water quality benefits. Unfortunately, unvegetated turbid reservoirs may never develop an aquatic plant community because of insufficient plant propagules and inhospitable environments for establishing seedlings. Weedy exotic species such as hydrilla Hydrilla verticillata and Eurasian watermilfoil Myriophyllum spicatum may establish in reservoirs, but these are poor long-term ecosystem components that may lead to serious management and ecological problems in reservoirs. Native plants, in contrast, offer excellent habitat and water quality benefits with few management problems. We review basic ecological considerations for selecting appropriate native plant species and planting locations. Revegetation efforts are most successful when a strategy of establishing founder populations within protective exclosures at carefully selected sites is used. Once successfully established, founder populations change environmental conditions within their vicinity, making the area more hospitable to further colonization and providing propagules to other sites within the reservoir.