Flora of a diked and an undiked southwestern Lake Erie wetland

Undiked wetlands in Lake Erie experience fluctuating water levels, and diked wetlands are isolated from these natural hydrologic events. Growth and survival of vegetation within the two wetland types is influenced by different water level regimes. Our objective was to report the occurrence and abundance of flora in a 100 ha diked wetland (DW) and an adjacent 100 ha undiked wetland (UW) at Winous Point Shooting Club in southwestern Lake Erie (SWLE) during September 1991. Randomly sampled aquatic macrophytes were identified to species and number of stems was recorded. Water depth and land elevation readings were also made. Forty-six species of aquatic macrophytes were identified in the DW while no plants were found in the UW. The controlled water depth of the DW (28.40 plus or minus 2.39 [SE] cm) was significantly lower (P