engleski

Phytobenthos and aquatic vegetation as biological quality and habitat description elements along submountain karstic river

Composition and abundance of aquatic flora (phytoplankton, phytobenthos, macrophytes) is one of three biological elements for determining the ecological status of rivers according to the Water Framework Directive, and with it, National Habitat Classification (NHC) is important for categorization of habitats. The main objective of this study was to describe the phytobenthos and sampling sites according to the NHC along the river Lika, lake Krušćica and tributaries in the wider area at the two instances (May and August 2014). With the main objective, accompanying objectives were generated: comparison of the composition and creation of a taxonomical list of aquatic macrophytes and phytobenthos. In this investigation we used Croatian Trophic Diatom Index (CTDI) as potentially the best assemblage index for phytobenthos community. Each sampling site was characterized by the NHC. A total of 20 taxa of aquatic macrophytes were used in the characterization of nine different water habitats on a total of 11 stations processed. Tributary near the village Sitvuk was the most interesting with a dominant taxon Gallium sp. and species Scirpus lacustris, Lysmiachia nummularia and Equisetum palustre. A total of 113 taxa was recorded in benthic samples. The most common species were Achnanthidium minutissimum (17 samples) and Fragilaria capucina (16 samples) while 58 were recorded only for individual samples. CTDI was in the range from 1.7 to 2.5 indicating good to moderate conditions.

phytobenthos ; aquatic vegetation ; NHC ; Lika

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