Overall, the model explains 49% of the variance in the average questionnaire score.

No abstract

In 1999 a limnological campaign was carried out in 89 water bodies located in 8 valleys of the Northern Apennines (provinces of Genua, Piacenza, Parma and Reggio Emilia)

The ciliate community was studied for a one-year cycle in a shallow freshwater pond covered by a dense layer of floating macrophytes (Lemna minor) in northern Italy. In all, 38 ciliate species were found with segregation between aerobic (surface layer) and anaerobic (bottom) habitats. Some species, such as Spirostomum ambiguum, and 5. teres, were frequent in both sites and proved the most important component of the ciliate assemblage of the explored pond. The results obtained in this study were compared with those from a previous one carried out in 1987. Even if the number of species found during the first series of samples (47) was higher with respect to the second (38), a large proportion of the ciliate assemblage was maintained, since 31 species were common to both periods. The benthic ciliate communities in the pond were more stable in time than those observed at the surface layer of floating macrophytes. Nevertheless, the latter were substantially differentiated from the former, in spite of the low level of the water column.

No abstract