| Gaia: | The flora and the aquatic vegetation of lake Cuitzeo are described. The wide extension of the lake, its shallowness and its numerous springs, determine a great diversity of habitats which allow the development of different aquatic and subaquatic life forms. There is an amazing floristic richness represented by 40 families, 70 genera and 92 species, of which 25 are strictly aquatic, 30 subaquatic and the remaining, tolerant species. The dominating communities are the attached emergent hydrophytes, represented by the genera Typha, Scirpus, Cyperus, Eleocharis and Phragmites. The attached submerged hydrophyte Potamogeton pectinatus covers more than half of the eastern part of the lake. It was found associated to an alga (Chara canescens). The long drought period, high evaporation and high mineral concentration in the water and sediment, are some of the limiting factors of the growth of aquatic vegetation in almost the whole lake, especially in the western and central parts. The progressive loss of water provision endangers the future of the lake and of its biota.
|
|---|
