“Kal” is Slovene and “lokva” Croatian expression for the typical human made karstic pond. These ponds are almost sole ground stagnant fresh water bodies in Karst and Bela Krajina, on the Slovenian coast and in Istria establishing a real network of water biotopes in the region. They are essential for survival of different animal and plant species, living in water and marshy-like biotopes. The problem of ponds as threatened water biotopes is known all over Europe for some time. In the karst and flysch landscapes in Slovenia and Croatia we need to pay even more concern to the disappearing Karst ponds because of the general lack of water resources. In the last years the number of ponds has decreased, especially due to destruction and drying up. The latter is a consequence of the fact that traditional way of life has changed - farmers do not use ponds anymore as watering places for cattle, as source of drinking water or water supply for fire fighting. Therefore we have to “recognise” these ponds as valuable cultural and natural heritage sites. Raising public awareness of the problem is very important. The protection of only few ponds is not enough for the long term solution of the problems mentioned above. The constant monitoring, restoration and management of this biotic network is needed. The first step in the process is an inventory of ponds, an assessment of pond conditions in the area and a survey of their fauna and flora. Amphibians, dragonflies, caddisflies, crustaceans and plants (marsh and aquatic plants) are good indicator groups for ecological assessment of these threatened water biotopes. For many species karst ponds are the only available habitat in the area. In whole Europe amphibian decline is well known problem because of pollution and especially destruction of their biotopes.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 00:56:11 +0000
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