Management issues in aquatic macrophyte ecology: a Canadian perspective

During the past few decades, attempts to manage: excessive abundance of freshwater macrophytes, decreasing abundance of marine eelgrass (Zostera marina L.), and abundance and diversity of seaweeds have yielded modest successes, some short-term recoveries, and other complete failures. As many broad principles apply to the management of all aquatic plants, the aim of this paper was to synthesize the issues and provide direction for the management of freshwater rooted macrophytes, eelgrass, and marine macrophytic algae and place them in a Canadian context. Specifically, we examine biomass and landscape objectives for macrophyte management, assess the role of environmental manipulation for the management of macrophyte assemblages, and provide direction for managing macrophyte assemblages within the context of ecosystem sustainability. Finally, we advocate that, given the unexpected outcomes that may arise from uncontrolled events (e.g., weather inherent variability in life history characteristics), management interventions should be designed in such a way that it is possible to make valid conclusions about the outcome of any given management action (i.e., design the management action to be a scientific experiment).