engleski

Freshwater endemics in peril: a case study of species Echinogammarus cari (Amphipoda: Gammaridae) threatened by damming

Freshwaters, especially running waters, have been impacted globally by suite of pressures among which pollution, overexploitation, physical alternation and damming, water abstraction and introduction of non-native species have caused the most severe degradations. Damming of rivers and creation of impoundments have been the most important causes of habitat loss and hydrological alternation in running waters. Moreover, as many freshwater organisms have restricted geographical distributions, any modification of their habitats can have a great impact on species and cause reduction or complete loss of specific local biodiversity. Echinogammarus cari (S. Karaman 1931) is Croatian endemic species whose presently known distribution is restricted to only 25 km of watercourse length in the upper canyon part of the Gojačka Dobra River and its two tributaries. After the completion of a 52.5 m high dam at the end of the canyon part of the Gojačka Dobra in 2010, about 60% of presently known distribution area of E. cari will be lost and the species will become endangered with great probability of extinction. This study was conducted to determine the extent of E. cari distribution in the Dobra River and its tributaries. Also, some aspects of its ecology like its microdistribution and relationship to physicochemical parameters were examined. Hydrological and physico-chemical conditions were examined in detail in order to establish the pre-damming state in this river system. Accordingly, impacts of the damming are predicted and possible conservation measures for the species are proposed and discussed. We argue that studies of biodiversity in freshwaters should be more focused on endemic species as they are the most likely to be threatened by damaging activities. This fact can be used as the strong argument for the conservation of extremely endangered freshwater ecosystems.

conservation, habitat loss, hydropower plant, large dam, Amphipoda, Dobra River

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