Plant Management in Florida Waters
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Lyngbya
Quick Facts
- Scientific name: Microseira wollei (formerly classified as Lyngbya wollei)
- Origin: Asia, Africa, and Australia
- Introduction: Uncertain – in US >100 years
- Aquatic community: Submersed, not rooted / floating mats
- Habitat: Nutrient rich, degraded waters
- Distribution: Throughout Florida, mostly peninsular
- Management effort: Maintenance
- 2017 public waters / plant acres: 22 / 1,155
- 2017 Waters / acres controlled: 2 / 26 (all harvested)
Environmental and Economic Concerns
- Cyanobacterium (blue-green alga) associated with waters with high organic content or nutrient levels
- Increasingly common in Florida springs and lakes / ponds with soft sediments
- Submersed filaments expand into extensive mats especially in Florida where mats can overwinter
- Gas bubbles float mats to surface in late spring through summer
- Dense mats interfere with boating, fishing, swimming, and aesthetics – clog water intakes
- blocks sunlight from reaching submersed plants
- reduces oxygen levels by blocking the interface between the water surface and the atmosphere
- Produces skin, liver, neuro, fish and shellfish toxins can cause gastrointestinal problems
- Produces off-flavor compounds that imparting earthy or mush-like taste and odor to water
- May be allelopathic
- Algal cells reproduce and spread rapidly by water movement, boats, animals; even water droplets
- Mucilaginous sheath makes herbicide control difficult
- Most control involves harvesting surface mats or combing submersed mats from native plants
- Carp will consume almost all other plants before feeding on lyngbya
