title: Aquatic communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system
text: # Aquatic communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system
  
  This article gives an overview of the aquatic communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system.
  
  ## Introduction
  
  The aquatic communities of the NVC were described in Volume 4 of British Plant Communities, first published in 1995, along with the swamps and tall-herb fens.
  
  In total, 24 aquatic communities have been identified.
  
  The aquatic communities fall into the following six groups:
  
  * four communities of the water surface and sub-surface, in which duckweeds and/or Frogbit are the constant species; these communities (A1, A2, A3 and A4) are found in moderately-rich to eutrophic standing waters
  * eight free-floating or rooted and submerged, pondweed communities (A5, A6, A11, A12, A13, A14, A15 and A21)
  * six communities in which rooted water-lilies and pondweeds with floating leaves are the constant species (A7, A8, A9, A10, A19 and A20)
  * three communities in which water-crowfoots and/or starworts are the constant species (A16, A17 and A18)
  * two hairgrass and quillwort communities (A22 and A23)
  * a single community characterised by free-floating vegetation found in impoverished base-poor standing waters (A24).
  
  ## List of aquatic communities
  
  The following is a list of the communities that make up this category:
  
  * A1 Lemna gibba community Lemnetum gibbae Miyawaki & J. Tx. 1960
  * A2 Lemna minor community Lemnetum minoris Soó 1947
  * A3 Spirodela polyrhiza - Hydrocharis morsus-ranae community
  * A4 Hydrocharis morsus-ranae - Stratiotes aloides community
  * A5 Ceratophyllum demersum community Certaophylletum demersi Hild 1956
  * A6 Ceratophyllum submersum community Certaophylletum submersi Den Hartog & Segal 1964
  * A7 Nymphaea alba community Nymphaeetum albae Oberdorfer & Mitarb. 1967
  * A8 Nuphar lutea community
  * A9 Potamogeton natans community
  * A10 Polygonum amphibium community
  * A11 Potamogeton pectinatus - Myriophyllum spicatum community
  * A12 Potamogeton pectinatus community
  * A13 Potamogeton perfoliatus - Myriophyllum alterniflorum community
  * A14 Myriophyllum alterniflorum community Myriophylletum alterniflori
  * A15 Elodea canadensis community
  * A16 Callitriche stagnalis community
  * A17 Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. pseudofluitans community
  * A18 Ranunculus fluitans community Ranunculetum fluitantis Allorge 1922
  * A19 Ranunculus aquatilis community Ranunculetum aquatilis Géhu 1961
  * A20 Ranunculus peltatus community Ranunculetum peltati Sauer 1947
  * A21 Ranunculus baudotii community Ranunculetum baudotii Br.-Bl. 1952
  * A22 Littorella uniflora - Lobelia dortmanna community
  * A23 Isoetes lacustris/setacea community
  * A24 Juncus bulbosus community.
  