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Aquatic nature (the second section)

Here: Aquatic nature (the first section)

(Above): The paludified shore of a small, oligotrophic pond in Kuusamo.
The water is brown, very rich in humus.
This pond is dystrophic. Aquatic plants are very scarce,
but this bondweed is common in waters of North Finland.

(Above): In the nutrition rich areas there are eutrophic lakes and ponds, too.
This picture is from Kuusamo, near Kitkajoki.
In this pond surrounded by swamps there are
for example northern water-lily (Nymphaea candida)
- it’s flowering in the picture - and
several submerged plants, too.
In the edges of this pond you’ll find water horsetail (Equisetum fluviatile)
and some big sedges, like from many other ponds in northern Finland.

(Above): Especially in southern and central parts of northern Finland
where there are several big rivers,
which may flood widely during the ice breakup.

(Above): Flooded meadow by the Oulankajoki river in Kuusamo.
Every spring the flood provides a silt fertilization
for these fields. In the picture e.g. globe flower (Trollius europaeus) in bloom.
In the background left there is an old ice-breaking device:
the ice floats of spring floods were broken here to prevent them from destroying
the Oulankajoki bridge. The flowering plant in this picture is globeflower (Trollius europaeus).

Some willows thrive frequently on the shores of lakes and ponds.
In this picture Salix lapponum creates grey patchs along the shore,
between the sedgezone and forest dwarfshrubs.
Kuusamo, Ahvenjärvi. See: swamped shore!

(Above): Seashore in front of Oulu. The northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia
is like a lake because the content of salt is so small. There are only some green algae,
few bigger algae and few halophytes.
In shallow shores the breakers aren’t able to destroy the vegetation,
but it brings decomposing matter
to the shore and the shore vegetation get more nutrients.
Shore moves upward from the sea (almost one meter in hundred years).
The primary succession of vegetation is very clear: the sedge zone
of water shore develops in to bush- and forest vegetation.
See also 'Primula sibirica-group'!

 

(Above): The same place as in the previous picture
(Oulu, Hietasaari) in the time breaking up of ice.

(Above): Beach in Hailuoto island (Marjaniemi).
The whitish grass is one hair-grass species,
which is endemic here (Deschampsia bottnica).
Also there are some other endemic species here
on the shores of Gulf of Bothnia,
where the land is rising and water is almost salt-free.

Here some water and shore plants (pictures and ecology)!

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