Status: Discontinued at most sites
Code: FMA
Site types that use this protocol: Lakes - Rivers
Macrophytes are an important component of the aquatic ecosystem and broad changes in the abundance of individual species and community composition provide valuable information on how and why an ecosystem might be changing. Macrophytes are also becoming increasingly valued as a means of indirectly monitoring water quality as, for instance, eutrophication can produce a progressive change in species composition and a loss of species diversity.
Species presence, abundance and distribution are recorded annually for rivers, every 2 years for lakes.
View FMA protocol [PDF]