Date of Award:

5-1963

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Watershed Sciences

Department name when degree awarded

Aquatic Ecology

Committee Chair(s)

Jessop B. Low

Committee

Jessop B. Low

Committee

Herman H. Wiebe

Committee

Howard B. Peterson

Committee

W. F. Sigler

Committee

James P. Thorne

Committee

J. C. Street

Committee

J. E. Christiansen

Abstract

The water resources of the State of Utah are rapidly being developed for agriculture and industry. They are so extensively exploited that their continued and additional use must be justified on the basis of need and efficiency of utilization. To determine more accurately the quantity and quality of water needed to operate a marsh, a project was undertaken by the Utah Department of Fish and Game, the Engineering Experiment Station and the Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit at Utah State University. The study was divided into the two phases, one on quantity and one on quality of water. The present report deals with one aspect of the water quality phase, i.e. that of dealing with the effect of salinity and the salinity tolerance of important emergent aquatic plants.

A large amount of research has been conducted to determine the water requirements of agricultural crops, but relatively little is known about quality of water needed to assure good growth of the more important emergent waterfowl plants. Experiments were, therefore, conducted in the greenhouse at Utah State University and in the field at Ogden Bay Bird Refuge, to collect data that will assist in determining the quality of water needed to maintain the salt balance below the lethal level for the desirable plants. The experiments on effects of salinity were begun in the spring of 1961 and ended in the summer of 1962. The objectives of this phase of study were as follows:

  1. To determine the salinity tolerance limits for seed germination of some marsh plants.
  2. To assess the influence of salinity on vegetative growth and development of some young and adult marsh plants.
  3. To determine the maximum salinity tolerance limits of young and adult marsh plants.
  4. To study the influence of salinity on reproductive growth and seed production of marsh plants.

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