www.biopond.sk - biodiversity of small water biotopes

Project

BIOPOND is an acronym for "Biodiversity of small water biotopes: parallel, intersecting or skew?" (project supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract NoAPVV-0059-11). The main objective of the project is a complex description of the diversity of macrophytes and important groups of invertebrates (Odonata, Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, Coleoptera, Heteroptera, and Diptera) of various types of ponds (i.e. small water bodies) in Slovakia.

obrazok vodnej nadrze 1

The specific aims of the project are:

  • to assess the influence of environmental variables on the diversity and structure of individual taxocoenoses;
  • to characterize the conditions, which will assure the preservation of the highest biodiversity of ponds;
  • to find out the relationships among diversity of particular groups of aquatic organisms;
  • to identify indicator group/groups of taxa with potential to represent the overall biodiversity of the studied biotop.

As a practical output of the project, we intend to propose guidelines for maintaining high biodiversity in ponds.

obrazok vodnej nadrze 2

The project focuses on the survey of ponds – small stagnant water bodies (natural, such as oxbow lakes and terrain depressions, or anthropogenic water reservoirs). The project has an ambition to be a complex scientific study of the mentioned biotopes and related organisms within Slovakia, but potentially with an application for broader geographic scales (e.g. Central Europe). The results can significantly affect the view of the correlation of the diversity of several taxonomic groups and contribute with new knowledge to this area. An important added value of our research is a direct output for practical conservation purposes. Identifying of environmental conditions that provide high diversity together with defining of indicator groups that reflect the diversity in a realistic way, are essential steps for practical conservation actions in order to maintain these extremely valuable biotopes.

obrazok vodnej nadrze 3

Project BIOPOND is supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract No. APVV-0059-11.