University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Winter 1975 CORRELATION OF SELECTED DISSOLVED SUBSTANCES AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF POTAMOGETON IN NEW ENGLAND CARL BARRE HELLQUIST Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation HELLQUIST, CARL BARRE, "CORRELATION OF SELECTED DISSOLVED SUBSTANCES AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF POTAMOGETON IN NEW ENGLAND" (1975). Doctoral Dissertations. 1105. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/1105 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. 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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 76-11,681 HELLQUIST, Carl Barre, 1940- CORRELATION OF SELECTED DISSOLVED SUBSTANCES AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF PCTAMOGETCN IN NEW ENGLAND. University of New Hampshire, Ph.D., 1975 Botany Xerox University Microfilms , Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108 CORRELATION OP SELECTED DISSOLVED SUBSTANCES AND THE DISTRIBUTION OP POTAMOGETON IN NEW ENGLAND by CARL BARRE HELLQUIST B.S., University of New Hampshire, 1965 M.S., University of New Hampshire, 1966 A THESIS Submitted to the University of New Hampshire In Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate School Department of Botany and Plant Pathology December, 1975 This thesis has been examined and approved L Thesis director, 'Dr. .kl Linn Bogle, Associate Professor of Botany and Plant Pathology SdZrecH*-} Dr. Richard W. Schreiber, Professor of Botany and Plant Pathology ^ > A _____ Dr. Philip J^S^fryer, P^fessor of Zoologyf ‘CstuJhn Dr. Owen K. Rogers, Profes of Plant Science and Genetics r j ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author sincerely thanks the members of his doctoral committee— Drs, R. w. Schrelber, 0. M. Rogers and P. J. Sawyer for their guidance and assistance. Special thanks are extended to Dr. A. B, Hodgdon for his enthusiasm and support in helping with, this project as chairman of the committee before his unfortunate accident and to Dr.. A. L. Bogle for taking over as chairman at such a difficult time. I am grateful to Dr. E. G. Ogden for serving on my committee and for his help in the field and advice in preparing the manusoript. Mr. Owen Durgln, Associate Professor of Besouroe Economies, University of New Hampshire, provided Invaluable assistance in the statistical portion of the project. His time and effort are greatly appreciated. Dr. Alan Baker, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, University of New Hampshire, provided much valuable advice on water chemistry and the preparation of graphs and tables. His critical review of the text was extremely helpful. Thanks are extended to Dr. LeBaron C. Colt, Jr., Professor of Biology at Boston State College and Dr. Robert R. Haynes, Assistant Professor of Biology, Louisiana State University at Shreveport, for their help in reviewing portions of the thesis. Dr. Rita N. McCauley, Biology Department Chairman, Boston State College, also gave much i tine in reviewing the text and supplying me with some of the chemicals and equipment utilized in.the project. My wife, Marion, deserves many thanks for all her encouragement over these many years of study and research. She actively participated in the preparation of this manuscript, particularly in the typing of all phases of it. To her, I owe special thanks. 11 TABLE OP CONTENTS LIST OP TABLES ............................... v LIST OP FIGURES........................ lx ABSTRACT ....................................... xii INTRODUCTION ................. I REVIEW OP LITERATURE .......................... 3 SAMPLING PROCEDURES ............................ 9 STATISTICAL PROCEDURE .......................... 11 RESULTS...................................... 13 DISCUSSION ................................... 53 Total Alkalinity, Free Carbon Dioxide, Hydrogen Ion Concentration.......................... 6l Group I— Acid "soft" Waters.................. 6k Group II— -Moderately Alkaline W a t e r s ......... 65 Sub-group I l a ............................ 65 Sub-group l i b ............................ 66 Sub-group l i e ............................ 66 Group III--Alkaline Waters .......... 6? Group IV— Highly Alkaline W a t e r s ............ 69 Hydrogen Ion Concentration................. 71 Free Carbon Dioxide......................... ?k Nitrogen and Phosphorus........ 75 Chlorides................................. 80 CONCLUSIONS ........................ 85 LITERATURE C I T E D .............................. 87 ill APPENDIX I Sampling Locations .... ........... ..... 95 APPENDIX II Collection Sites for Potamogeton Taxa .......... 104 APPENDIX III Chemical D a t a ................................. 201 APPENDIX IV Computation of the z Value for Cluster Determination ............................... 253 APPENDIX V Analysis of Variance Tables .................. 255 APPENDIX VI Observations on Some Uncommon Potamogeton Taxa . 26l BIOGRAPHICAL D A T A ............................... 268 iv List of Tables 1. Occurrence of New England Potamogeton and observed hydrogen Ion concentration In lake and stream waterB . .................. 1^ 2. Occurrence of New England Potamogeton and observed total alkalinity In lake and stream w a t e r s ....... .......... ............. 15 3i Occurrence of New England Potamogeton and observed free carbon dioxide concentration in lake and stream waters .................. 16 Occurrence of New England Potamogeton and observed nitrate concentration In lake and stream waters .............................. 17 5. Occurrence of New England Potamogeton and observed total phosphate concentration in lake and stream waters ...................... 18 6. Occurrence of New England Potamogeton and observed chloride concentration In lake and stream waters • 19 7. Correlation matrix ....... ................ 29 8. Clusters of Potamogeton taxa based upon total alkalinity— differences between m e a n s ....... 30 9. Mean alkallnltles of major New England water­ sheds (present study, cf. Figure 16) ....... 5* 10. Classification of English waters ............. 57 11. Classification of Scottish lochs ............. 57 12. Classification of Wisconsin waters ........... 58 13. Classification of Minnesota waters with Potamogeton taxa ............................ 59 Ilf. Classification of New England waters determined by clusters of Potamogeton taxa most commonly found in them • ............................ 63 15. Chemical characteristics of sampling locations . 201 16. Frequency of occurrence of Potamogeton fill- formls var. borealis along tested ohemlcal g r a d i e n t s ....... ....................... 213 v 17. Frequency of occurrence of Potamogeton pectlnatus along tested chemical gradients . 214 18. Frequency of occurrence of Potamogeton robbing11 along tested chemical gradients . 215 19. Frequency of occurrence of Potamogeton crispus along tested chemical gradients ........... 216 20. Frequency of occurrence of Potamogeton con* fervoldes along tested chemical gradients . 216 21. Frequency of occurrence of Potamogeton zosteri- formis along tested chemical gradients ....... 217 22. Frequency of occurrence of Potamogeton follosus along tested chemical gradients .... 218 23. Frequency of occurrence of Potamogeton fries!! along tested chemical gradients . ....... 219 24. Frequency of occurrence of Potamogeton strictlfolius along tested chemical