List of aquatic plants at several priority lakes for conservation in Indonesia

According to the national conference of Indonesian Lakes II in Bali in 2009 concerning sustainable lake management, 15 lakes regarded as Indonesia’s priority lakes for conservation in 2010-2014. The ability to control invasive aquatic plants in the ecosystem is the important factor to support ecosystem sustainability. Ecologically, the aquatic plants provide shelters and spawning sites for the fish, purification system, water current stabilizing system, erosion, and turbidity controller. This research aimed to study the diversity of aquatic plants in some of the Indonesian priority lakes, that are Lake Sentarum (West Kalimantan), Rawa Pening (Central Java), Tondano (North Sulawesi), Tempe (South Sulawesi), and Sentani (Papua). The observations were conducted from 2012-2014. As a result, there were 34 identified species categorized within 18 families. The recorded families were Pontederiaceae, Polygonaceae, Convolvulaceae, Onagraceae, Araceae, Lentibulariaceae, Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Ceratophyllaceae, Plantaginaceae, Alismataceae, Salviniaceae, Hydrocharitaceae, Leguminosae, Menyanthaceae, Nymphaeaceae, Pandanaceae, and Equisetaceae. Based on its life form, founded 7 species of submerged plants, 18 species of emergent plants, 3 species of free-floating plants, and 6 species of rooted with floating leaves plants. Among the listed species, 27 species were recognized as natives, while 7 species were identified as introduced species (South America, America, Asia, and India).