Plant diversity and conservation value of continental temporary pools

Abstract

Temporary pools are unusual habitats because they share features of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They are habitats of community interests according to the Natura 2000 network (Natura code: 3130 and 3170), and can be found in several climatic regions where they harbours various wetland habitats. Whereas Mediterranean temporary pools are well studied, only a few papers deal with their continental counterparts, probably because they are mainly found on arable fields often displaying decades-lasting dormancy. This study aims at filling this gap in our knowledge by evaluating plant species composition, habitat types and diversity of temporary pools in a region of continental climate. We analysed data from 185 phytosociological relevés (79 historical and 106 contemporary data) from different types of waterlogged arable fields, including rice paddy fields, from the Pannonian Ecoregion. We found significant differentiations of rice paddy fields from ‘other’ waterlogged arable fields according to ordination, classification and regression analyses. Diversity partitioning of species abundance data showed that these habitats have a very high alpha (species number, Simpson and Shannon) and beta diversity, which means that all the sites have high importance in habitat conservation. We found many vascular plants listed in IUCN and national red lists among the indicator and characteristic species of continental temporary pools. Our results demonstrate the conservation importance of continental temporary pools in relation to habitat and biodiversity management and conservation planning.