From a biological and biogeographic point of view, Mediterranean temporary wet habitats are recognised to be amongst the most interesting habitats

in the Mediterranean bioclimatic region. They are considered to be habitats of Community Interest and are included in the “standing water group”.

Due to an overlap in the plant species and syntaxa indicated as characteristic, the assignment of the plant communities to the habitats 3120, 3130 and

3170* is far from straightforward. We propose that the Isoetion communities be assigned to habitat 3170*, the Preslion cervinae, Cicendio-Solenopsion

and Agrostion pourretii communities to habitat 3120, and the Cyperetalia fusci and Littorelletea uniflorae communities to habitat 3130

Bagella, Simonetta

Caria, Maria Carmela

Farris, Emmanuele

Filigheddu, Rossella Speranza

English

UnissResearch

245Fitosociologia vol. 44 (2) suppl. 1: 245-249, 2007
Issues related to the classification of Mediterranean temporary wet habitats according with
the European Union Habitats Directive
S. Bagella, M.C. Caria, E. Farris & R. Filigheddu
Dipartimento di Botanica ed Ecologia Vegetale, via Muroni 25, Università degli Studi di Sassari, I-07100
Sassari
Abstract
From a biological and biogeographic point of view, Mediterranean temporary wet habitats are recognised to be amongst the most interesting habitats
in the Mediterranean bioclimatic region. They are considered to be habitats of Community Interest and are included in the “standing water group”.
Due to an overlap in the plant species and syntaxa indicated as characteristic, the assignment of the plant communities to the habitats 3120, 3130 and
3170* is far from straightforward. We propose that the Isoetion communities be assigned to habitat 3170*, the Preslion cervinae, Cicendio-Solenopsion
and Agrostion pourretii communities to habitat 3120, and the Cyperetalia fusci and  Littorelletea uniflorae communities to habitat 3130.
Key words: Habitats of Community Interest, Isoetion, Natura 2000, temporary ponds.
Riassunto
Problematiche connesse con la classificazione degli habitat umidi temporanei mediterranei in attuazione alla Direttiva Habitat. Gli habitat umidi
temporanei sono considerati tra quelli di maggiore interesse biologico e biogeografico della regione mediterranea. La Direttiva Habitat li include tra
quelli di interesse comunitario nel gruppo “acque dolci stagnanti”. L’attribuzione delle comunità vegetali a tre di questi habitat, il 3120, il 3130 e il
3170* è resa difficile dalla sovrapposizione di alcune delle specie vegetali e dei sintaxa indicati come caratteristici. Si propone pertanto uno schema
di riferimento che dovrebbe consentire un’interpretazione univoca della Direttiva Habitat. Viene pertanto proposto di riferire  all’habitat 3170* le
comunità dell’Isoetion, al 3120 quelle del Preslion cervinae, Cicendio-Solenopsion e Agrostion pourretii e al 3130 le comunità dei Cyperetalia fusci
e della Littorelletea uniflorae.
Parole chiave: Habitat di interesse comunitario, Isoetion, Natura 2000, stagni temporanei.
Introduction
From a biological and biogeographic point of view,
Mediterranean temporary wet habitats are recognised
to be amongst the most interesting habitats in the
Mediterranean bioclimatic region (Quezel, 1998; Médail
et al., 1998; Médail, 2004). They shelter extremely rare
and isolated taxa: in New Zealand, for example, 18%
of all protected species occur in these habitats (Johnson
& Rogers, 2003) and a considerable part of the Red-
List-species in France is dedicated to temporary wet
habitats (Oliver et al., 1995).
Temporary wet habitats are characterized by
considerable spatial and temporal variability, which is
influenced by a number of factors, such as flooding
period, water depth variation and habitat size (Barbour
et al., 2003; Battaglia & Collins, 2006; Biondi &
Bagella, 2005; Gopal, 1986; Fernández-Aláez et al.,
1999; Oertli et al., 2002; Rhazi et al., 2006; Rita &
Bibiloni, 1991).
From a syntaxonomic point of view the vegetation
which characterizes these habitats is mainly referable
to the class Isoeto-Nanojuncetea Br.-Bl. & Tüxen ex
Westhoff, Dijk & Passchier 1946, including pioneer
annual and dwarf perennial ephemeral isoetid
communities on periodically flooded bare soils, but also
to the classes Isoeto-Littorelletea Br.-Bl. & Vlieger in
Vlieger 1937, including dwarf helophyte amphibious
oligotrophic communities on shore dystrophic lakes,
nutrient-poor standing or slow flooding water and
Charetea fragilis Fukarek ex Krausch 1964, including
charophyte pioneer communities growing on sub-
aquatic barren soils of pools, lakes and shallow water
courses (Rivas Martínez et al., 2002). Furthermore,
communities belonging to other classes, such as
Potametea Klika in Klika & Novák 1941, Phragmito-
Magnocaricetea Klika in Klika & Novák 1941, Molinio-
Arrhenatheretea Tüxen 1937 and Helianthemetea
guttati (Br.-Bl. in Br.-Bl., Roussine & Nègre 1952)
Rivas Goday & Rivas-Martínez 1963 em. Rivas-
Martínez 1978, could be present in the temporal
succession in the same sites.
Mediterranean temporary wet habitats are considered
to be habitats of Community Interest (European
Commission, 1992) and are included in the “standing
water group”. Reference habitats in Annex I of the
Habitats Directive are the following: 3120 -
Oligotrophic waters containing very few minerals,
generally on sandy soils of the West Mediterranean, with
Isoetes spp.; 3130 - Oligotrophic to mesotrophic
standing waters with vegetation of the Littorelletea
uniflorae and/or of the Isoeto-Nanojuncetea; 3140 -
246
Hard oligo-mesotrophic waters with benthic vegetation
of Chara spp.; 3160 - natural dystrophic lakes and
ponds; 3170* - Mediterranean temporary ponds. The
other temporary wet habitats of the “standing water
group” denominated 3110 -  Oligotrophic waters
containing very few minerals of sandy plains
(Littorelletalia uniflorae) and 3180* - Turloughs, are
not present in the Mediterranean region.
Aims
The aims of this paper are: 1) to outline the issues
related to the classification of Mediterranean temporary
wet habitats in relationship to the application of the
Habitats Directive (European Commission, 1992) and
the Nature 2000 network institution; 2) to propose
criteria for adoption to facilitate univocal identification
of the habitats of Community Interest referable to this
typology.
Issues
Mediterranean temporary wet habitats are highly
vulnerable due to their shallow water and their
frequently small surface area. Despite an improvement
in the public’s perception of wetlands over recent years,
temporary pools are often poorly identified and their
importance largely unappreciated, leaving them
vulnerable to unintentional destruction (Grillas, 2004).
Issues related to the individuation and the
classification of Mediterranean temporary wet habitats
are due at least partly to their intrinsic characteristics
and to the traits of the plants that they host. In fact they
cover very limited surface areas, are ephemeral and
present high variability in the duration of the flooding
period. Furthermore, the species which colonise them
are often inconspicuous (e.g. dwarf annuals or dwarf
geophytes), exhibit a very short life cycle and are often
not well-known.
Although the Interpretation Manual (European
Commission, 2003) gives more details than the list of
habitat names in Annex I itself, there are still many
problems concerning the identification of habitat types
in the field, and in both selecting sites and assessing the
national lists of proposed sites. Some of these problems
arise from poorly defined, sometimes overlapping,
habitat types (Evans, 2006).
The “standing water” group of habitat types is
particularly complex, with both priority subtypes of
wider habitats and similar vegetation in several habitat
types in some cases separated by substrate and/or water
quality (Evans, 2006). Furthermore, these habitat types
rarely, if ever, occur as isolated stands: more frequently
they are found in a dynamic mosaic of several types.
Habitat type 3130 includes two phytosociological
classes: Littorelletea uniflorae and Isoeto-
Nanojuncetea. However, some communities within the
class Littorelletea uniflorae can also be assigned to
habitat  type 3110 which includes communities of the
unique order of the class Littorelletea uniflorae:
Littorelletalia uniflorae. The communities of the class
Isoeto-Nanojuncetea are also included in habitats 3120
and 3170* (Isoetion, Nanocyperion flavescentis,
Preslion cervinae, Agrostion salmanticae, Heleochloion
and Lythrion tribracteati). The 3170* habitat, the only
priority habitat of the group, is considered to be a
subtype of  habitat 3120. These overlaps concern
syntaxonomic units, as well as some characteristic plant
species (Fig. 1).
As a result, it is hard to assign the plant communities
Fig. 1 - Overlapping of taxa and sintaxa amongst habitats 3120, 3130 and 3170*
ISOETO-
NANOJUNCETEA
3130
Isoetes durieui
 I. histrix
 I. setacea
Marsilea strigosa
Serapias sp.
     Cicendia filiformis
  Cyperus flavescens
 C. fuscus
 C. micheliaus
 Elatine sp.
     Juncus bufonius
        J.  tenajea
3170
 3120
J. tenageja
247
to the different typology of habitats. Another
explanatory problem derives from the fact that the
priority habitat 3170* has an exact biogeographical
reference in its name “Mediterranean temporary
ponds” which would imply a restriction of the range
of distribution to the Mediterranean biogeographical
region.
The lack of knowledge concerning flora and
vegetation and the issues relating to the
understanding of the Interpretation Manual of the
Habitats Directive (European Commission, 2003)
have had several consequences on the process of
fil l ing in Nature 2000 forms in Italy
(WWW.MINAMBIENTE.IT): i) difficulty in the assignment
of plant communities to the relative habitats; ii) lack
of indications concerning the presence of these
habitats in several pSCIs; iii) shortage of proposals
for pSCI establishment in sites where these habitats
are so well represented that they may be considered
to be “typical”. Furthermore, habitat 3170* has also
been recognised outside the Mediterranean area. In
this case the solution is not so clear,  but
interpretations have tended to be flexible rather than
strict (Evans, 2006). As a consequence, an inflation
of habitat 3170* has been brought about, leading to
a decrease in its rarity index. In Italy the habitat is
reported in 89 sites  (Petrella et al., 2005), of which
23,  about 26%, fall  within the continental
biogeographic region.
Syntaxonomic aspects
The class Isoeto-Nanojuncetea is to be considered
a very complex syntaxon in terms of its wide
distribution area and its floristic diversity due to both
phytogeographic and ecological factors. Several
syntaxonomical classifications have been proposed
for this class (e.g. Kock, 1926; Braun-Blanquet,
1935; Rivas Goday, 1955), as well as the following,
that was recently proposed by Deil (2005) based to
a large extent on the syntaxonomic scheme proposed
by Brullo & Minissale (1998),  with some
modification according to Mucina (1997); Täuber &
Petersen (2000) and Rivas- Martínez et al. (2001,
2002).
ISOETO-NANOJUNCETEA Br.-Bl. & R. Tüxen ex
Westhoff et al. 1946
ISOETETALIA Br.-Bl. 1935 em. Rivas Goday 1970
Isoetion Br.-Bl. 1935
Cicendio-Solenopsion Brullo & Minissale 1998 (=
Cicendion auct. mediterran.)
Agrostion pourretii Rivas Goday 1958 em. Rivas-
Martínez et al. 1986
Preslion cervinae Br.-Bl. ex Moor 1936 (= Menthion
cervinae)
CYPERETALIA FUSCI Pietsch 1963 (= Nanocyperetalia)
Nanocyperion flavescentis Koch ex Lippert 1936
Radiolion linoidis (Rivas Goday 1961) Pietsch 1973
Elatino triandrae-Eleocharition ovatae (Pietsch&
Müller-Stoll 1968) Pietsch 1973
Verbenion supinae Slavnic 1951
The Isoetetalia  are of circum-Mediterranean
distribution, with a higher density of the habitats and
richer flora in the Western parts of the Mediterranean
area. The Cyperetalia fusci are distributed in the
temperate zone of Europe and include summer
communities.
Among the Isoetetalia only two alliances present a
closely Mediterranean distribution: Isoetion and
Preslion cervinae. The Isoetion alliance has a
circum-Mediterranean distribution and occurs in
thermomediterranean and mesomediterranean
bioclimates. Geophytic qwillorts are a major
component of the biomass (Deil, 2005). Amongst
them, the terrestrial Isoetes durieui and I. histrix are
considered characteristic of the alliance (Rivas
Martínez et al., 2002). The Preslion cervinae alliance
also presents a Mediterranean distribution, but occurs
in long submerged depressions. Amongst the others
some aquatic qwillorts, such as I. velata subsp.
velata, are considered characteristic taxa (Rivas
Martínez et al., 2002).
Discussion and proposals
The issues encountered in the surveying and
classification of Mediterranean temporary wet
habitats underline the advantage of having more
detailed data regarding characteristic flora and
vegetation in order to facilitate their assignment to
the different typologies of Annex I of the Habitats
Directive. The more problematic matters are due to
overlaps among habitats 3130, 3120 and 3170*.
Taking as a reference point the Isoeto-
Nanojuncetea class, which builds up the connection
among the 3 habitat types, the syntaxa belonging to
this class were clustered in order to clearly define
the reference habitats  (Fig. 2).
248
Our proposal is: i) to assign to the habitat 3170*
only the communities which develop in “very
shallow temporary ponds (a few centimetres deep)
which exist only in winter or late spring, with a flora
mainly composed of Mediterranean therophytic and
geophytic species” as suggested in the Interpretation
Manual of the European Union Habitats (European
Commission, 2003). Nevertheless, these communities
do not all belong to the alliances indicated in the manual
[e.g. Isoetion, Nanocyperion flavescentis, Preslion
cervinae, Agrostion salmanticae (=Agrostion pourretii),
Heleochloion and Lythrion tribracteati], but among
them only to that of Isoetion which is the only one
including communities occurring in shallow water in
early spring; ii) to assign to habitat 3120 the
communities belonging to the other 3 alliances of
Isoetetalia: Preslion cervinae (Mediterranean
communities dominated by aquatic qwillorts such
as Isoetes  velata subsp. velata which include long
flooded communities),  Cicendio-Solenopsion
(Mediterranean-Atlantic communities demanding
water until the end of spring) and Agrostion pourretii
(late communities generally in temporal succession
with other Isoeto-Nanojuncetea communities); iii)
to assign to habitat 3130 the Cyperetalia fusci
communities which, in spite of those of Isoetetalia,
are characterised by late summer and autumn bloom
communities occurring on eutrophic or subeutrophic
soils (Brullo & Minissale,  1998) and  the
Littorelletea uniflorae communities.
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Issues related to the classification of Mediterranean temporary wet habitats according with the European Union Habitats Directive

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