Submerged macrophyte beds provide a secondary realm of accumulation in lakes. Particles otherwise destined to reside in the deep-water profundal zone are intercepted by nearshore macrophyte communities that attenuate wave and current energy. The microenvironment found inside submerged macrophyte beds can be substantially more quiescent than that of the open-water, allowing for fine particles to be deposited out of the water column. Together with larger, eroded inorganic sediments and coarse organic particles, these materials comprise the sediments underlying macrophyte communities. / Thirty-four littoral sites were sampled in Lake Memphremagog (Quebec-Vermont) to quantify the role of morphometry (littoral slope and site exposure) and macrophyte beds (mean biomass and biomass density) on the accumulation of sediments. An established historical marker, stable Pb, was used to date the sediments (approx. 110 years) and calculate rates of accumulation (SARs). Identifiable stable Pb profiles were obtained at two-thirds of the sites confirming the utility and robustness of littoral sediment core analysis. Multiple regression analyses showed that macrophyte parameters were the best predictors of SARs. Macrophyte mean biomass and biomass density were clearly most important in predicting the volume (total SAR) and organic content (organic SAR) of the sediments ($R sp2=0.57 rm to 0.76$, $P<0.001$). The same macrophyte parameters, however, poorly predicted the bulk (mainly inorganic) accumulation of sediments. Biomass density was solely related to the long-term accumulation of stable Pb in the sediments supporting empirical models that credit growth form as an important factor explaining among species or among weedbed variability in sediment-plant tissue elemental concentrations. The quantification of SARs will benefit both lakewide modeling of nutrient and contaminant budgets, and the understanding of littoral succession and its contribution to lake ontogeny.

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Given the prominent role of nitrogen in the eutrophication of aquatic systems, recent increases in nitrogen loading to freshwaters are of concern. A comparison of nitrogen retention in freshwaters in North America and Europe shows that wetlands retain the greatest proportion of their nitrogen load, followed by lakes and then rivers. A comparison of the relative importance of nitrogen retention mechanisms found denitrification to be responsible for the greatest proportion followed by nitrogen sedimentation and then uptake by aquatic plants. A more in-depth examination of denitrification in the littoral sediments of Lake Memphremagog in Quebec, using the N2 flux technique, found an average denitrification rate of 111 mumol N m-2 h-1. Denitrification rates were positively related to the % organic matter of the sediment, temperature and macrophyte biomass density and negatively related to depth. These results, in combination with a review of the literature indicate that denitrification rates are higher in littoral than profundal sediments.

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A dual stable isotope approach (delta13C and delta15N) was used to assess the importance of pelagic organic carbon in littoral secondary production and explore its predictability. Forty-seven sites were sampled in Lake Memphremagog (Quebec--Vermont) to characterize the isotopic position of the primary producers and filter-feeding freshwater mussels, as well as macrophyte biomass, chlorophyll-a concentration, and site exposure. The different sites spanned a wide range in the three environmental variables. For each site, littoral, terrestrial, and pelagic contributions to the diet of the mussels were calculated from mussel isotopic position, corrected for trophic enrichment. The mean contributions were: littoral---8%, terrestrial---27%, and pelagic---65%. However, the magnitude of the pelagic contribution was not related to macrophyte biomass, site exposure or chlorophyll-a concentration. The finding that the unionid mussels, a major littoral zone filter-feeder, obtain about two-thirds of their nutrition from pelagic zone particles washed into the littoral zone provides evidence for a close coupling in carbon flow of the littoral and pelagic zone. This study represents an important step towards a better understanding of carbon flow in aquatic food webs.

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