Preface : conservation of european ponds-current knowledge and future needs

Ponds are common elements of the landscape with an important role in the global processes of biosphere and biodiversity preservation. Recent research indicates that ecological characteristics of ponds are different from other inland water systems, but scientific knowledge is still insufficient and p...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Miracle, Maria Rosa, Oertli, Beat, Céréghino, Régis, Hull, Andrew
Format: article
Publication Date:2010
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repository:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:78166
Online Access:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/78166
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Bassa
Biodiversitat
Conservació
Basses temporals
Canvi global
Ponds
Biodiversity
Conservation
Temporary ponds
Global change
Charcas
Biodiversisidad
Charcas temporales
Cambio global
Description
Summary:Ponds are common elements of the landscape with an important role in the global processes of biosphere and biodiversity preservation. Recent research indicates that ecological characteristics of ponds are different from other inland water systems, but scientific knowledge is still insufficient and poor compared to lakes and rivers. Therefore, whilst indicators and conservation tools have been developed for most aquatic systems, there is also a gap between existing basic information on pond ecology and applied research. The European Pond Conservation Network (EPCN) with the aim of strengthening the links between basic and applied research and pond management organized its 3rd biennial meeting in Valencia (Spain) with the theme "Pond conservation: from science to practice". We present a selection of papers from this conference, which cover the three main topics of the sessions: (1) Management and conservation in practice, (2) Pond ecology at different scales and (3) Temporary ponds. The articles presented develop techniques for assessing the ecological status of this type of ecosystems, evidence the importance of ponds in a global scale, indicate that their conservation must take into account their spatial arrangement in networks, discuss environmental factors that are relevant to biodiversity conservation and provide information on different research areas such as biogeochemical processes, evolution of aquatic biota and community ecology.