Preface: conservation of european ponds-current knowledge and future needs

Abstract

Ponds are common elements of the landscape with an important role in the global processes of biosphere and biodiversity preservation. Recent research indicates that ecological characteristics of ponds are different from other inland water systems, but scientific knowledge is still insufficient and poor compared to lakes and rivers. Therefore, whilst indicators and conservation tools have been developed for most aquatic systems, there is also a gap between existing basic information on pond ecology and applied research. The European Pond Conservation Network (EPCN) with the aim of strengthening the links between basic and applied research and pond management organized its 3rd biennial meeting in Valencia (Spain) with the theme "Pond conservation: from science to practice". We present a selection of papers from this conference, which cover the three main topics of the sessions: (1) Management and conservation in practice, (2) Pond ecology at different scales and (3) Temporary ponds. The articles presented develop techniques for assessing the ecological status of this type of ecosystems, evidence the importance of ponds in a global scale, indicate that their conservation must take into account their spatial arrangement in networks, discuss environmental factors that are relevant to biodiversity conservation and provide information on different research areas such as biogeochemical processes, evolution of aquatic biota and community ecology