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Diversity of macrophyte communities and their relationship to water quality in different types of lowland rivers in Poland

  • PLANTS IN HYDROSYSTEMS
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Abstract

The aim of the study was to verify botanical and ecological traits of river typology based on macrophytes. We compared diversities of macrophyte communities in different river types and their relationship to water quality. The 240 surveyed rivers were situated in the central-west of Poland in a lowland area. Species compositional similarities were analysed using the Jaccard index. The macrophyte matrix was classified into four groups: Large rivers (LR), Sandy rivers (SaR), Stony rivers (StR) and Organic rivers (OR). The highest level of homogeneity was found for LR, followed by OR, StR and SaR. The greatest differences in species composition were found between LR and StR. Variabilities of indices (species richness, Shannon, Simpson and Pielou indices, and total cover) confirmed the specific diversity patterns in the four types of rivers. All metrics based on relative abundance were strongly correlated with each other, and they were never correlated with water quality. The total covers of LR and OR as well as species richness of LR show some correlation with water quality. The total cover was correlated with water quality in OR and LR. The communities with the highest species richness were related with OR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Environment Protection, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poznan, Poland

    Krzysztof Szoszkiewicz

  2. Department of Mathematical and Statistical Methods, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poznan, Poland

    Anna Budka & Dariusz Kayzer

  3. Provincial Environmental Inspectorate, Poznan, Poland

    Karol Pietruczuk

Authors
  1. Krzysztof Szoszkiewicz
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  2. Anna Budka
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  3. Dariusz Kayzer
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  4. Karol Pietruczuk
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Correspondence to Krzysztof Szoszkiewicz.

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Guest editors: M. T. Ferreira, M. O’Hare, K. Szoszkiewicz & S. Hellsten / Plants in Hydrosystems: From Functional Ecology to Weed Research

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Szoszkiewicz, K., Budka, A., Kayzer, D. et al. Diversity of macrophyte communities and their relationship to water quality in different types of lowland rivers in Poland. Hydrobiologia 737, 77–85 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-013-1698-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-013-1698-z

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