Abstract
Klátovské rameno is the lowland slow-flowing groundwater feed eutrophic tributary of the Malý Dunaj River (Danube Plain), where our study of temporal changes of aquatic macrophytes vegetation was realised in 1999 and 2005. For survey of aquatic vascular macrophytes the Kohler’s method (Janauer 2003) was used, which is compliant with European standard EN 14184. Altogether 35 aquatic macrophyte species were recorded during the survey. Nuphar lutea persisted as the most dominant species in 1996 and 2005. Species diversity increased slightly after the nine years: ten species immigrated to the watercourse. The changes in species abundance have shown weak differences, however the abundance of Sparganium emersum has increased markedly. Alien species Elodea canadensis and both S. emersum and Hydrocharis morsus-ranae significantly enlarged their distribution in the stream. The ecological quality of the river, based on the aquatic macrophytes assessment criteria, was slightly impaired after nine years, but still 90% of its studied course has a high or good ecological status.
Highlights
Lowland watercourses in Europe belong probably to water bodies most heavily and long-lastingly altered by man
As to the Mean Mass Total (MMT) index, N. lutea was most abundant in the whole watercourse, followed by P. pectinatus, P. perfoliatus, and S. sagittifolia (Fig. 4)
The environmental conditions are excellent for development of aquatic macrophytes, which is indicated by species richness, high species diversity, and abundance
Summary
Lowland watercourses in Europe belong probably to water bodies most heavily and long-lastingly altered by man. The Danube lowland in Slovakia, for instance, is interlaced by a network of relic watercourses, which have transferred to almost terrestrial conditions due to succession processes (Piút et al 2004). Watercourses have been stabilized by embankments and they are very often canalised, and mutually interlinked by a network of artificial canals. The running waters have long been engineered to drain the surrounding land more efficiently; and original river channels have been re-directed. Changes in hydro-morphological and physicochemical characteristics of water-bodies are reflected in the biotic sphere. The changes detected in the study period provided new information on processes related to the diversity of species and enhanced our possibility to use this knowledge in the socio-economical context
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