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Biodiversity Changes of Charophytes in Lakes and Ponds of the Duero Basin (NW-Spain) over a Twenty-year Period

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Abstract

With the main goal of investigate the charophyte diversity changes over a period of 20 years, an extensive survey of lakes and ponds of the Duero basin was conducted during the summer of 2005. The results were then compared with those obtained by Alonso & Comelles during a decade (1977-86). Out of the 39 visited water bodies that contained water in 2005, only 14 hosted 10 taxa of charophytes: 8 belonging to the genus Chara and 2 to the genus Nitella. Unlike previous studies, all the water bodies examined in 2005 were highly affected by anthropogenic disturbances. However, no significant differences between sites with or without charophytes were found for any of the studied ecological variables. This suggests that charophytes can adapt to a wide range of habitat conditions, and highlights the need to preserve and maintain the previous heterogeneous nature of the visited water bodies. Moreover, a reduction in charophyte species richness was noted over time. This may have been due to the increasing effect of anthropogenic disturbances, which were mostly related to agricultural and livestock farming activities and alter the water quality of the ecosystems as well as the charophyte flora they harbour.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Iberian Freshwater Algal Flora project (REN2002-04397-C03-02, Spanish Ministry of Science and Education). We thank Albert Ferré and David Pérez for the map and Esteve Llop for his statistical assistance.

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  1. Vegetal Biology Department (Botany Unit). Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal, 643, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Núria Flor-Arnau & Jaume Cambra Sánchez

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  1. Núria Flor-Arnau
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  2. Jaume Cambra Sánchez
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Correspondence to Núria Flor-Arnau.

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Flor-Arnau, N., Cambra Sánchez, J. Biodiversity Changes of Charophytes in Lakes and Ponds of the Duero Basin (NW-Spain) over a Twenty-year Period. Wetlands 35, 159–169 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-014-0605-3

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