Temporary waters: biodiversity, functional ecology, vulnerability and susceptibility to climate change. Temporary waters contribute to regional diversity disproportionately compared to the Earth’s surface they cover. This short note i) describes the reasons underlying this biological diversity, ii) analyzes the importance of temporary waters as hotspots of biodiversity and iii) stresses how these ecosystems represent a valuable tool to evaluate the impact exerted by human activities on our Planet. Moreover, temporary waters are strongly impacted by the climate change, which modifies their hydroperiod and reduces their territorial density. When these effects are coupled with direct destruction operated by human activities (they are hardly recognized as aquatic ecosystems with an extraordinary rich biota) a large portion of species, whose life cycles are strictly dependent upon the temporary nature of these ecosystems, is endangered. To decrease the risk of a significant decrease of biological diversity of Italian inland waters, and to safeguard regional and national biodiversity, a sound management of the whole territory, addressed to preserve the existing and eventually to create new temporary ecosystems, cannot be further delayed.
|Numero di pagine||6|
|Stato di pubblicazione||Published - 2014|