Keywords
vascular plants
rare species
protected species
red-listed species
macrophytes
fishpond
Milicz Ponds
Poland
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Abstract
The Milicz Ponds Reserve (Stawy Milickie), located in Lower Silesia Province (southwestern Poland), is composed of 5 pond complexes, covering 53 km2 in total. It is remarkable primarily for its bird fauna but it also harbours red-listed aquatic and wetland plants. Our field research conducted in 2011-2012 and 2021-2023 indicates that its vascular flora consists of 677 taxa (including 2 species with 2 subspecies each) from 97 families. We did not confirm the presence of additional 94 species reported in earlier studies. Rare and threatened species are predominantly found among helophytes, annual plants of moist sites, and hydrophytes, e.g. Juncus tenegeia, Lemna turonifera, Lindernia procumbens, Najas minor, Pilularia globulifera, Potamogeton filiformis, Ranunculus baudotii, R. rionii, Samolus valerandi, and Scirpoides holoschoenus. The Ruda Sułowska complex (1147 ha) is characterized by the richest flora (438 species), clearly surpassing the second-ranking Stawno complex (385 species), although the latter is over twice as large (2404 ha). The former complex contains more ponds, particularly small ones, covering 0.05-5.00 ha each. This suggests that, beside area, pond number is just as important as a factor influencing biodiversity. A similar pattern was also observed in the case of the smallest complexes, Jamnik and Potasznia (312 vs 319 ha, respectively), with the latter having a significantly higher number of ponds (6 vs 54), which also resulted in its much richer flora (218 vs 257 species), especially in respect of macrophytes (58 vs 93) and amphiphytes (51 vs 80). A larger number of ponds within a complex results in a longer shoreline and development of the associated ecotone habitats. Moreover, smaller ponds are also usually shallower and more susceptible to water level fluctuations, leading to the formation of silty habitats.
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