LakeSPI
LakeSPI for monitoring New Zealand lakes
Few New Zealand lakes retain their natural or original indigenous vegetation, and the condition of many lakes is under threat as a result of impacts from land-use changes and invasions of alien aquatic plants. LakeSPI (pronounced ‘Lake Spy’) provides a quick and cost-effective tool for monitoring lake condition.
Historically, lake condition has been monitored by full vegetation surveys and/or physicochemical open-water sampling methods. These methods tend to be complex, costly and time-consuming and, as a result, lake monitoring is often done irregularly or not at all.
LakeSPI simplifies the monitoring process by assessing carefully selected features of the submerged plant communities. Since the submerged plants within a lake are good integrators of change, this type of monitoring need only be carried out once a year or less. As a result, LakeSPI enables regular monitoring of a wider suite of lakes than is currently possible and it should also prove to be a useful complement to traditional lake monitoring methods.
LakeSPI methodology is freely available to lake managers and other interested parties via a user manual and a technical report and appendices.
To learn more see “LakeSPI: a new tool for monitoring the ecological condition of New Zealand lakes”.
For further information contact John Clayton at j.clayton@niwa.co.nz or Tracey Edwards at t.edwards@niwa.co.nz.