Water Regime Changes and the Function of an Intermittent Wetland

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Abstract

The intermittent Lake Cerknica comprises a variety of wetland habitats, which support numerous species, many of them included on the Red List. The exchange of wet and dry periods influences the through-flow of energy and the turnover of matter in the lake. In the last five decades, the water level fluctuations were highly variable. Since 1961 the May and June water levels have shown a decreasing trend line, in October the trend line revealed an increase, while from November to February no changes of trend could be observed. High water levels in winter and during the peak vegetation season negatively affected reed productivity. The decomposition of reed leaves increased with the wetness of the survey location, while the soil mineralisation rate was only slightly related to soil wetness. In comparison to the tributaries, the lake water contained relatively low amount of nutrients, which was a consequence of a densely vegetated area.

Keywords

Decomposition Evapotranspiration Intermittent lake Phragmites australis Wetland habitats 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  • Nataša Dolinar
    • 1
  • Nina Šraj
    • 1
  • Alenka Gaberščik
    • 2
  1. 1.Biotechnical faculty, Department of BiologyUniversity of LjubljanaLjubljanaSlovenia
  2. 2.Department of Biology, Biotechnical FacultyUniversity of LjubljanaLjubljanaSlovenia

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