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Small Water Bodies of the Western Balkans pp 93–108Cite as

Temporary Ponds in Mediterranean Islands: Oases of Biodiversity

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Abstract

The development of tourism in the Mediterranean and the abandonment of traditional extensive agriculture lead to the succession of several different habitat types. One of the most endangered habitats in Mediterranean region are temporary ponds. Despite small size, these ephemeral waterbodies are recognized as reservoirs of biodiversity. Shallow ponds are often only freshwater habitats on islands. In this chapter we will mainly focus on biotic interactions among macrophytes, zooplankton, macrozoobenthos and fish. With this approach we will try to give guidelines for conservation and restoration in order to prevent succession and devastation of ponds.

Keywords

  • Pond ecology
  • Macrophytes
  • Zooplankton
  • Macrozoobenthos
  • Fish
  • Conservation

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Acknowledgements

Authors are grateful to Ana Štih and other member of Association Hyla for collecting part of the samples, as part of the project Mediterranean Island Wetlands Project (MedIsWet). We are also very grateful to Antun Alegro and Tomislav Hudina, for the identification of macrophyte taxa.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science, Division of Biology, University of Zagreb, Rooseveltov trg 6, 10 000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Tvrtko Dražina, Maria Špoljar & Marko Miliša

Authors
  1. Tvrtko Dražina
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  2. Maria Špoljar
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  3. Marko Miliša
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tvrtko Dražina .

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Editors and Affiliations

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

    Prof. Dr. Vladimir Pešić

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

    Prof. Djuradj Milošević

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

    Assoc. Prof. Marko Miliša

Appendix

Appendix

Supplement 1. Coordinates, morphometry and some biotic features of the studied pond from Adriatic islands (Croatia)

figure a

Supplement 2. List of zooplankton taxa from three investigates island (Adriatic Sea, Croatia), with overall frequency of occurrence

figure b
figure c

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Dražina, T., Špoljar, M., Miliša, M. (2022). Temporary Ponds in Mediterranean Islands: Oases of Biodiversity. 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_5

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