Underwater vegetation is critical to protect clear-water shallow lakes. However, agriculture has increased nutrients levels in lakes, and with introduced fish and weeds this has led to the degradation of many lakes with loss of underwater plants. Restoration efforts often reduce nutrients and control fish, but seldom re-establish underwater vegetation. We focus on selecting lakes with suitable habitat, which plant species to use and improving bottom sediments, enabling re-establishment of underwater vegetation leading to a return of desired lake condition.

This article belongs to the collection Ecology and Management of Aquatic Macrophytes.

We identified global hotspots of aquatic macrophyte endemism and rarity, and identified factors associated with speciation hotspots of macrophytes in some areas of the planet. We found a total global pool of world-rare macrophytes of 2296 species, each present in <5% of the total world area of inland aquatic habitats. Our findings help identify the locations of potential cradle and museum speciation areas for these plants, that could usefully inform global actions to conserve freshwater macrophyte diversity across the world.

This article belongs to the collection Ecology and Management of Aquatic Macrophytes.