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Effigy Mounds National Monument
Freshwater Plants
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| Aquatics on Buffalo Pond |
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The Mississippi River, with its many islands, sloughs and backwaters, is rich in nutrients that sustain aquatic plants which make up the bottom of the food web for living organisms in the river ecosystem. Various species of pondweed along with water milfoil, elodea, watershield, duckweed, arrowhead, bulrush, cattail, and wild rice populate the stagnant backwaters and ponds. Filamentous and plankton algae are bioindicators identifying areas that may be polluted with excessive nutrients.
These aquatic plants serve as an important food source and provide habitat. They produce oxygen and organic material to benefit other organisms. Their leaves and stems provide habitat for insects and other plants. They provide spawning habitat, food, and cover for a variety of fish.
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Did You Know?
Ellison Orr was 92 years old when Effigy Mounds National Monument was dedicated. The Monument owes much to his accurate maps, and careful cataloguing of hundreds of sites and artifacts. Orr died in 1951, leaving most of his personal collection of manuscripts, artifacts, and samples to the monument.
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Last Updated: July 31, 2006 at 10:54 EST |
