Abstract
Deposits from a millpond in the Jarosławianka Stream valley (Sławno Plain, NW. Poland) were subject to malacological analysis in order to reconstruct the history of environmental transformations of the pond from its establishment in 1351 to the end of its functioning in 1960. Thirty five mollusc taxa occurred in the pond during its functioning: 21 taxa of water snails, 11 bivalves, and 3 terrestrial snails. Six phases of development of the pond were distinguished, based on the mollusc assemblages: phase I (1351–1450 CE) – very favourable habitat conditions, high species richness and diversity; phase II (1450–1490 CE) – deterioration of habitat conditions – decrease in the number of species and individuals; phase III (1490–1590 CE) – improving conditions and reappearance of species which had occurred in the pond in phase I; phase IV (1590–1750 CE) – the least favourable conditions and poor malacofauna in terms of species number and abundance; phase V (1750–1790 CE) – renewed development of the malacofauna; phase VI (after 1790 CE) – end of functioning of the pond. The phases of pond development were associated with hydrological transformations, resulting from climatic factors and human economic activity.
Highlights
Anthropogenic water bodies, including ponds of various origins, play an important role in modern landscape
The analysed section of the Jarosławianka Stream catchment is built of four deposit series: fluvial sands and silty-clay, peaty gley soils, millpond sediments, as well as overbank sands and soils constituting the uppermost layer of the deposit series (Fig. 2)
The results of the analysis of mollusc assemblages from four profiles provided interesting information regarding a period of approximately six hundred years of functioning of the millpond in the Jarosławianka Stream valley
Summary
Anthropogenic water bodies, including ponds of various origins, play an important role in modern landscape. From the ecological point of view, ponds are very comfortable objects of research on colonisation of water bodies, the effect of environmental factors on the structure of plant and animal communities, and the area effect on the occurrence and diversity of particular groups of animals (Spyra et al 2007). In contrast to research on modern malacocoenoses, studies on mollusc assemblages of erstwhile ponds are relatively rare, especially those involving complete succession of malacofauna from the establishment of the water body to its filling This type of studies, considering mollusc assemblages, their species composition, and textural and structural properties of the sediments, make it possible to assess the environmental transformations in a long time perspective (Szwarczewski 2003)
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