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Gastropods in Small Water Bodies of the Western Balkans—Endangerments and Threats

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Small Water Bodies of the Western Balkans

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Abstract

The Balkan Peninsula is a vital part of Europe’s biodiversity in respect to freshwater gastropods and many of recorded taxa are stenobionts of narrow distribution. This chapter presents review of the freshwater gastropod fauna distribution in springs, small mountain streams (first order streams), and groundwaters of the Western Balkan and points to the main threats that influence the decline of diversity of this important group of aquatic organisms. Due to the complexity of the topic, small standing waters have not been considered here. The most significant threats to the diversity of freshwater gastropods in small streams are habitat degradation (physical destruction of habitats due to mini hydropower plants construction, hydro-technical works related to flood protection, faulty forest management excavation of material), and water abstraction. Knowledge of a considerable number of Balkan gastropod species, underlines the importance for the long-term conservation of biodiversity in this part of Europe.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Republic of Serbia, Contract No.: 451-03-9/2021-14/200007.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković”–National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Bulevar despota Stefana 142, 11060, Belgrade, Serbia

    Maja Raković, Jelena Tomović, Nataša Popović & Momir Paunović

  2. Faculty of Sciences, University of Montenegro, Džordža Vašingtona b.b, 81000, Podgorica, Montenegro

    Vladimir Pešić

  3. Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Department of Biology and Department of Ecology and Environment Protection, University of Banja Luka, Mladena Stojanovića 2, 78000, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Dejan Dmitrović

  4. Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Department of Invertebrates, Institute of Biology, “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University, 1000, Skopje, Macedonia

    Valentina Slavevska Stamenković & Jelena Hinić

  5. Macedonian Museum of Natural History, Blvd. Ilinden 86, 1000, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia

    Natasha Stefanovska

  6. Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Rooseveltov trg 6, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Jasna Lajtner

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  1. Maja Raković
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  2. Jelena Tomović
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  4. Vladimir Pešić
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  10. Momir Paunović
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Correspondence to Maja Raković .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro

    Vladimir Pešić

  2. Department of Biology and Ecology, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia

    Djuradj Milošević

  3. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

    Marko Miliša

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Raković, M. et al. (2022). Gastropods in Small Water Bodies of the Western Balkans—Endangerments and Threats. In: Pešić, V., Milošević, D., Miliša, M. (eds) Small Water Bodies of the Western Balkans. Springer Water. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86478-1_11

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