LAUSR

ABSTRACT Slagle ZJ, Allen MS. 2018. Should we plant macrophytes? Restored habitat use by the fish community of Lake Apopka, Florida. Lake Reserv Manage. 00:00–00. Freshwater resources are impaired worldwide, and managers frequently use habitat restoration to mitigate anthropogenic disturbances to freshwater systems. Restoration attempts have not often been evaluated with respect to their benefits to the sportfish population, especially in lentic systems. Recent restoration techniques at Lake Apopka, Florida, have included planting of macrophytes, particularly spatterdock (Nuphar advena), to increase fish habitat, stabilize sediments, and sequester nutrients. We assessed fish community habitat use of recently restored habitat with comparison to both unrestored (non-vegetated) and natural vegetated littoral habitats. We compared relative abundance and species richness of the fish community across habitat treatments. We electrofished >30 transects in each of these 3 habitat treatments (i.e., natural, planted, and unrestored), collecting relative abundance data for all fishes and habitat data including vegetation species and percent area coverage (PAC). Natural and planted habitat held greater PAC of vegetation than unrestored sites. Natural habitat supported the greatest relative abundance (as indexed by catch per unit effort) and the greatest species richness of fishes, while planted habitats and unrestored habitats supported fewer relative numbers and lower richness. Planted habitats are being utilized by the fish community, but were not significantly different from unrestored sites. Increased diversity of macrophytes in planted habitats could increase the benefits for these populations. Managers should consider continued monitoring and evaluation of planted sites to increase our understanding of the benefits of habitat restoration.