Relating fish kills to upwellings and wind patterns in the Salton Sea |
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Authors: | B Marti-Cardona T E Steissberg S G Schladow S J Hook |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Animal and Human Biology, University of Rome La Sapienza, Viale dell’Università 32, 00185 Rome, Italy;(2) Department of Plant Biology, University of Rome La Sapienza, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy |
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Abstract: | Awareness of pond conservation value is growing all over Europe. Ponds are recognized as important ecosystems supporting large
numbers of species and several rare and threatened aquatic plants, macroinvertebrates and amphibians. Notwithstanding ponds,
particularly temporary ones, are still neglected in Italy. There are some gaps in our understanding of the macrophyte ecology
and the conservation value of Mediterranean small still waters. Therefore, this study investigated the macrophyte communities
and physico-chemical characteristics of 8 permanent and 13 temporary ponds along the Tyrrhenian coast near Rome, with the
aim to relate the distribution of aquatic plants to environmental variables, and to define the botanical conservation value
of ponds. Throughout the study period (Spring 2002), Principal Component Analysis performed on abiotic variables clearly discriminated
temporary ponds, smaller and more eutrophic, from permanent ponds, larger and with higher pH and oxygen concentration. A total
of 73 macrophyte taxa were collected in the study ponds. Temporary waters hosted a smaller number of plant species than permanent
ones. Besides hydroperiod length, the environmental factors related to plant richness were maximum depth, surface area, dissolved
oxygen and nitrogen concentration in the water. Moreover, the Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling showed a high dissimilarity
in the taxonomic composition of aquatic plants between temporary and permanent ponds. The former contained more annual fast-growing
species (Callitriche sp. pl. and Ranunculus sp. pl.), while in the latter species with long life-cycles (i.e. Potamogeton sp. pl.) were more abundant. Our results highlighted that temporary and permanent ponds in central Italy have different macrophyte
assemblages, with aquatic species (including some of conservation interest at regional scale) exclusively found in each pond
type. This suggested that both type of ponds could give an irreplaceable contribution to the conservation of aquatic plant
diversity of these freshwater ecosystems.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Guest editors: R. Céréghino, J. Biggs, B. Oertli & S. Declerck
The ecology of European ponds: defining the characteristics of a neglected freshwater habitat |
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Keywords: | Hydroperiod Species richness Mediterranean temporary and permanent ponds Wetland plants |
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