Conclusions: Recent Advances and the Future Prospects of the Lake Skadar/Shkodra Environment

Pešić, Vladimir; Karaman, Gordan S.; Kostianoy, Andrey G.; Vukašinović‐Pešić, Vesna

doi:10.1007/698_2018_274

Cited by 14 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Current environmental changes, including global warming and strong pollution of air, soil, and water threaten the quality and diversity of microhabitats and thus also the associated biodiversity (Barredo et al, 2016;Booy, Hendriks, Smulders, Van Groenendael, & Vosman, 2000). Until recently, Lake Skadar was not influenced by large uploads of wastes and other pollutants, but the rapidly developing tourist industry and infrastructure as well as the neighbouring cities of Podgorica and Shkodra started to affect highly that unique environment (Pešić, Karaman, Kostianoy, & Vukašinović-Pešić, 2018). According to Väinölä et al (2008), as well as Gerhardt et al (2011), amphipods are characterised by low dispersibility.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Shallow waters of the lake are thermally unstable, reaching from c. 7°C in December to as much as 27-29°C in August (Kostianoy, Soloviev, Kostianaia, & Sirota, 2018), while the water temperature in the springs is rather stable at 10-15°C, depending on spring (Radulović, 2018;Zawal & Pešić, 2018). Like many other Mediterranean freshwaters, the Lake Skadar system is under heavy anthropogenic pressure coming either from the Montenegrin capital Podgorica, the Albanian city of Shkodra and growing tourist pressure (Grabowski, Bącela-Spychalska, & Pešić, 2014;Pešić, Karaman, Kostianoy, & Vukašinović-Pešić, 2018). The long and complex history of the basin is reflected by the richness of endemic fauna associated with its springs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is known as a local diversity and endemism hotspot of high habitat heterogeneity Mrdak, Petrović, Katnić, & Erceg, 2011;Pešić, Gadawski, et al, 2018;Pešić & Glöer, 2013;Pešić, Karaman, & Sket, 2018;Skoulikidis, Economou, Gritzalis, & Zogaris, 2009;Zawal & Pešić, 2018). Like many other Mediterranean freshwaters, the Lake Skadar system is under heavy anthropogenic pressure coming either from the Montenegrin capital Podgorica, the Albanian city of Shkodra and growing tourist pressure (Grabowski, Bącela-Spychalska, & Pešić, 2014;Pešić, Karaman, Kostianoy, & Vukašinović-Pešić, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Long‐term within‐basin isolation patterns, different conservation units, and interspecific mitochondrial DNA introgression in an amphipod endemic to the ancient Lake Skadar system, Balkan Peninsula

et al. 2019

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1. Investigation of biodiversity, including genetic diversity within species, is crucial for rational planning of nature conservation and species protection. Endemics or narrow-ranged taxa, sensitive to alteration of physical and chemical conditions, may serve as local bioindicators. 2.Homoeogammarus scutarensis is an endemic, cold-adapted amphipod crustacean, inhabiting fragmented spring habitats, within a relatively small area of the Lake Skadar basin. The basin is recently under heavy anthropogenic influence leading to habitat deterioration.3. Genetic diversity within H. scutarensis was investigated using the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and the nuclear 28S ribosomal RNA markers.Genetic diversity within the mitochondrial (mt)DNA appeared to be surprisingly high as for the limited spatial scale. The history of within-species divergence dates back at least to the Pliocene. 4. A case of interspecific mtDNA introgression from the endemic H. scutarensis to the widespread and partly sympatric Homoeogammarus thoni was observed in one of the studied populations. Demographic analysis showed that the demography of H. scutarensis population hasbeen stable, without evidence of expansion. Thus, we believe that H. scutarensis, responsive to environmental changes, is a proper model mirroring the conditions in sensitive habitats of the Lake Skadar basin. To protect ongoing evolutionary processes, the conservation measures for this species should take into account the complex fine-scale lineage endemism patterns. This case study may also provide a hint for planning conservation strategies in other geologically old spring systems.6. Most of the localities where H. scutarensis occurs provide refugia for divergent mtDNA lineages, suggesting prolonged isolation between sites and independent evolutionary histories. We conclude that H. scutarensis is composed of two or three conservation units. One of them occupies the headwaters of the Crnojevića River and spring in its valley. The other is widespread throughout the sub-lacustrine We would like to thank

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Long‐term within‐basin isolation patterns, different conservation units, and interspecific mitochondrial DNA introgression in an amphipod endemic to the ancient Lake Skadar system, Balkan Peninsula

et al. 2019

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“…This is a result of the seasonality of precipitation/evaporation regime over the lake and over its catchment with low water levels in summer and high floods during the winter months (November -April). The River Morača, which provides more than 60% of the lake's water, affect the lake level and the size of the flooded area (Pešić et al, 2018b). As a result of the discharge influenced by climatic factors and lake bathymetry, the lake's water level fluctuates seasonally from 4.5 to 10.4 m above sea level (Pešić et al, 2018a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of wildfires on the Lake Skadar/Shkodra environment

2020

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Every year wildfires bring damages to the environment of Montenegro, and, in particular, to the Lake Skadar/Shkodra environment. Wildfires are caused by dry and hot weather which is established yearly from July to September, and is likely linked to the regional climate change. In this study we used high resolution optical imagery (OLI Landsat-8 and MSI Sentinel-2A, -2B) to analyze concentrations of suspended particulate matter and chlorophyll-a in Lakes Skadar/Shkodra and Šas in order to understand the potential impact of wildfires on the lake ecosystem. The surface of burnt areas was calculated for different regions around Lakes Skadar/Shkodra and Šas. Our data showed that SPM values in lake water increase during wildfire. The highest SPM value was observed in the area around the mouth of the left branch of River Morača where the largest areas affected by fires were observed. The SPM concentration in water of Lakes Skadar/Shkodra and Šas generally decreased after rainstorms. The need for implementation of a comprehensive fire management program that includes monitoring of impact of fires on aquatic ecosystems and their biota is emphasized.

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“…A recent survey showed that 38% of the 119 springs surveyed in the Lake Skadar catchment area were modified (Gligorović, ). Most of these are rheocrenic springs located at lower altitudes (Pešić, Karaman, Kostianoy, & Vukašinović‐Pešić, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of macroinvertebrate multimetrics as a measure of the impact of anthropogenic modification of spring habitats

Pešić

Dmitrović

Savić

et al. 2019

Aquatic Conservation

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1. Springs are distinct freshwater habitats that are threatened globally by human impacts, but are not included in standard freshwater assessment tools. This study analysed how the standard macroinvertebrate metrics currently used in biomonitoring programmes for running waters perform in springs with similar ecological qualities but with a different degree of hydromorphological modification.Macroinvertebrate assemblages were analysed in 50 riparian springs along the Crvcka River in the Dinaric karst.2. Most metrics analysed (ASPT, EPT fam , PTH fam , BMWP, STAR_ICMi, and Spring_ICMi) showed significant differences between hydromorphologically modified and natural, i.e. unmodified, springs.3. A self-organizing map (SOM), an unsupervised artificial neural network, was used for patterning and visualizing 10 environmental parameters and the metrics analysed.Most macroinvertebrate metrics, besides IBE (which did not show any pattern) and PTH fam (which showed an opposite trend), had significantly lower values in the spring group with the highest electrical conductivity and the lowest discharge.4. The study showed that hydromorphological modification does not necessarily lead to a loss of crenobiontic species, provided that the discharge and substrate composition remain suitable. Future coordinated conservation strategies must take into account the fact that spring species assemblages are sensitive to habitat structure and organic pollution, as has been achieved in Europe for rivers assessed under the Water Framework Directive. 5. Using multimetric indices, such as the new Spring_ICMi, may help to provide a framework for assessing the response of macroinvertebrate assemblages to human impacts. They may also help in assessing the success of measures used for the conservation and restoration of these threatened but highly valuable habitats. Further investigations should verify the suitability of such metrics in assessing the deterioration of springs globally.

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Conclusions: Recent Advances and the Future Prospects of the Lake Skadar/Shkodra Environment

Cited by 14 publications

References 19 publications

Long‐term within‐basin isolation patterns, different conservation units, and interspecific mitochondrial DNA introgression in an amphipod endemic to the ancient Lake Skadar system, Balkan Peninsula

Long‐term within‐basin isolation patterns, different conservation units, and interspecific mitochondrial DNA introgression in an amphipod endemic to the ancient Lake Skadar system, Balkan Peninsula

The impact of wildfires on the Lake Skadar/Shkodra environment

Application of macroinvertebrate multimetrics as a measure of the impact of anthropogenic modification of spring habitats

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