Water loss increase through evapotranspiration is one the most important modes of interference of weeds in water bodies, especially in water storage reservoirs. Thus, this research was conducted to compare the water losses in mesocosms colonized with the aquatic weeds Myriophyllum aquaticum,Brachiaria subquadripara,Echinochloa polystachya,Typha latifolia and Pontederia lanceolata. The evaluations were carried out in July 2004, in three 4-day periods. The water losses were evaluated based on the amounts of water necessary to restore the existing water level before each evaluation period. The colonization of the aquatic weeds increased the water losses in the mesocosms, with the highest losses being observed in those colonized by T. latifolia, between 3.54 to 4.71 times the water surface without aquatic weeds. The losses in the mesocosms colonized by M. aquaticum,B. subquadripara, E. polystachya, and P. lanceolata were statistically similar and promoted increases between 1.54 to 2.21 times the free surface. The results showed that aquatic weed control is important to prevent water losses in reservoirs used for water storage.
Myriophyllum aquaticum; Brachiaria subquadripara; Echinochloa polystachya; Typha latifolia; Pontederia lanceolata
