Macrophyte development in unimpacted lowland rivers in Poland

Abstract

Freshwater classification according to the Water Framework Directive (WFD) is based on estimation of the deviation between biological elements found on river stretch in comparison with communities detected in the same river type under reference conditions (undisturbed and near-natural habitats). We present analyses to describe macrophyte development in pristine lowland rivers and to reveal the variation among various stream types. The study is based on a country-wide survey of Poland with a dataset of 642 sites on 367 water courses. Surveyed rivers covered the whole lowland area of Poland. Field surveys were conducted using the Polish macrophyte approach, which enabled calculation of several macrophyte metrics. Firstly, a numerical index MIR (Macrophyte Index for Rivers) was computed, which reflects river degradation, especially eutrophication. Furthermore, five diversity metrics were calculated. Each survey, in addition to macrophyte assessment, was supplemented by a complex suite of environmental records. Reference conditions were defined using four criteria: (1) catchment land use, (2) hydromorphological features, (3) water quality and (4) biological assessment. The selected reference lowland rivers included 40 sites. To classify plant data, two-way indicator species analysis Twinspan was used. This resulted in distinguishing four endclusters which were heterogeneous according to plant composition: organic rivers and three types of siliceous rivers (small with sandy substrate, small with stony substrate and large rivers). The differentiation of environmental factors between river types was confirmed by a variance analysis (ANOVA). Furthermore, the environmental database was explored with principal component analysis (PCA). The PCA principal components were analysed against river types with the canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). Finally botanical differences between identified river types have been detected, using botanical metrics the share of different macrophyte groups and relationships with particular species were defined.

Macrophyte and macroinvertebrate patterns in unimpacted mountain rivers of two European ecoregions

“…In Central Europe, we can still find relatively abundant high-quality river ecosystems that remain unaltered by human activity where natural processes still operate on a large scale (Krno et al, 2007;Šporka et al, 2009;Szoszkiewicz et al, 2010a;Wy_ zga et al, 2012;Mazur et al, 2016). Due to the high ecological quality of some rivers in Poland, they are often used for international comparisons (Dynesius & Nilsson, 1994;Antheunisse et al, 2006;Baattrup-Pedersen et al, 2006;Birk & Willby, 2010) and even used as a reference for other countries (Baattrup-Pedersen et al, 2008).…”

The impact of land use and water quality on the flora of ecotones along a small lowland river (Central Poland)

“…herbs, shrubs and trees, was estimated in each plot using a ten-degree coverabundance scale (Londo 1976) with "1" indicating a few individuals covering less than 1% and "10" indicating vegetation cover of more than 90% of the total plot area, which allowed both the number of species and the proportion of the area covered to be estimated. Plant species were categorized as macrophytes according to Szoszkiewicz et al 2010.…”

A comparison of various indices based on benthic macrofauna for the assessment of the ecological status of selected Carpathian streams

“…In Poland, the assessment of the ecological status of running waters is performed by Regional Inspectorates for Environmental Protection on the basis of biological indices, such as the Macrophyte Index for Rivers (MIR) (Szoszkiewicz et al 2010) and the Diatom Index (Picińska-Fałtynowicz 2009). Up to now, the biotic index based on benthic macrofauna composition BMWP-PL (Biological Monitoring Working Party) and the diversity index d were used (Kownacki & Soszka 2004).…”