Aquatic plants photosynthesize
and therefore provide
dissolved oxygen
within the lake.
That's really important
for underwater critters
to be able to respirate.
The work that we do
involves going to a lake.
and we go from sample point
to sample point in a boat
and we rake up the
aquatic plants
and we take a look
at the species present
at that sample point.
And we do that
at least 200 times in a day.
And when you do that
a couple hundred times,
or maybe even a thousand times
in a lake,
you really get a good picture
of what the aquatic plant
community is like in that lake.