Aquatic macrophyte transect data for the River Lambourn at Boxford 2009 to 2014

The surveys were designed to provide an estimate of the area and cover of the three most common aquatic macrophytes at four transects along the River Lambourn at Boxford. The species recorded were Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. pseudofluitans (with Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. pseudofluitans x Ranunculus peltatus hybrid also present), Callitriche platycarpa (with some Callitriche obtusanglia) and Berula erecta. The Ranunculus and Callitriche species were not identified to species level as this is frequently impossible without flowering material and because the study was more concerned with the quantitative characteristics of the aquatic macrophytes.

The surveys were conducted monthly from March 2009 until October 2014 with one occurrence of missing data due to high flow which prevented accurate (and safe) surveying. When possible the surveys were timed to coincide with monthly hydraulic surveys reported elsewhere.

The surveys were carried out at four transects distributed along the length of the CEH River Lambourn Observatory. These were selected in order to represent a combination of shallow/fast flowing areas and deeper/slower flowing areas, as well as shaded and unshaded reaches. At sites one to three the channel width is approximately 10m, but at the downstream site the width is nearer to 14m.