Lake Prespa, Northwestern Greece: A Unique Balkan Wetland

200 Pages·1997·10.542 MB·English

by  G. E. Hollis, A. C. Stevenson (auth.), Alain J. Crivelli, George Catsadorakis (eds.)

Lake Prespa, Northwestern Greece
Developments in Hydrobiology 122
Series editor
H. J. Dumont
Lake Prespa, Northwestern Greece
A Unique Balkan Wetland
Edited by
Alain J. Crivelli & George Catsadorakis
Reprinted from Hydrobi%gia, vo/ume 351 (1997)
Springer Science+Business Media, BV
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-94-010-6179-7 ISBN 978-94-011-5180-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-5180-1
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved
© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1997
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1997
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
This volume is dedicated to
all the people living in the
Prespa region in northwestern
Greece, Albania and FYROM in
the hope that they will succeed
in their quest for an environ
mentally friendly way to stay
in the area they love
Hydrobiologia 351 vii
A.J. Crivelli & G. Catsadorakis (eds.), Lake Prespa, Northwestern Greece.
Contents
Preface..... ..... ..... ... ....... ..... .. ... .. ..... . .. .. ..... ... .. ... .. ... .. . .... .... ix-xi
List of contributors ................................................................. xii
The physical basis of the Lake Mikri Prespa systems: geology, climate, hydrology and water
quality
by G.E. Hollis & A.C. Stevenson............................................... 1-19
The soils
by C.S. Kosmas, N.G. Danalatos & N.K. Moustakas .............................. 21-33
The flora of Prespa National Park with emphasis on species of conservation interest
by G. Pavlides ................................................................ 35-40
Aquatic and terrestrial vegetation of the Prespa area
by G. Pavlides ................................................................ 41-60
Species composition and seasonal cycles of phytoplankton with special reference to the
nanoplankton of Lake Mikri Prespa
by E. Tryfon & M. Moustaka-Gouni ............................................ 61-75
The zooplankton of Lake Mikri Prespa
by E. Michaloudi, M. Zarfdjian & P.S. Economidis ............................... 77-94
The benthic fauna of Lake Mikri Prespa
by D. Petridis & A. Sinis ....................................................... 95-105
Fish and fisheries in the Prespa lakes
by AJ. Crivelli, G. Catsadorakis, M. Malakou & E. Rosecchi ...................... 107-125
The distribution and habitat preferences of the amphibians of Prespa National Park
by D. Bousbouras & Y. Ioannidis ............................................... 127-133
The space utilization by the reptiles in Prespa National Park
by Y. Ioannidis & D. Bousbouras ............................................... 135-142
Breeding birds from reedbeds to alpine meadows
by G. Catsadorakis ............................................................ 143-155
The importance of Prespa National Park for breeding and wintering birds
by G. Catsadorakis ............................................................ 157-174
Conservation and management issues of Prespa National Park
by G. Catsadorakis & M. Malakou .............................................. 175-196
viii
Lake Prespa, northwestern Greece.
Hydrobio[ogia 351: ix-xi, 1997. IX
A. 1. Crivelli & G. Catsadorakis (eds), Lake Prespa, Northwestern Greece.
Preface
After the Lakes Skadar and Ohrid, the Lakes Megali a sturdy reference for the future discussions and nego
Prespa and Lake Mikri Prespa, actually forming one tiations between the various local, governmental and
wetland, are the largest waterbodies of the Balkans non-governmental bodies for the Prespa area.
(Figures 1 and 2). They belong to three countries: The aims of this special issue, which sprung out
Albania, FYROM (Former Yugoslavian Republic of almost exclusively of studies executed at the Greek
Macedonia) and Greece. They are of Tertiary origin parts of Prespa, is threefold:
and have only underground outlets. The lakes are at - to present the available scientific knowledge on
850 metres above sea level amidst mountains rising to the area's ecosystems. Most of this knowledge came
over 2500 mas!. out of contributors conducting original studies the last
Prespa, as the area of Lakes Prespa area is called, is ten to fifteen years.
particularly well-known in Europe for its birdlife, but - to assess, when feasible, changes, threats and
also for its flora. It is a centre of endemism of notewor trends in the flora and in the fauna ( bird, fish) and in
thy importance for the biodiversity of Europe. Within the land use and socio-economic activities of the area
the catchment area of Lakes Prespa or its immediate such as fisheries, agriculture, livestock rearing.
vicinity, three National Parks (Mikri Prespa, Greece, - to try in the light of old and recent know ledges
since 1974; Pelister, FYROM since 1948 and Galicia, to enhance the understanding about potential manage
FYROM since 1958) exist, a fact clearly indicating the ment and land use activties in the area which should
high biological, ecological and aesthetic value of this preserve its exceptional biodiversity and at the same
region. time allow local people increase their standard of liv
Being in a border area, at least from the beginning ing.
of the present century, Prespa area suffered repeately The core of this volume concerns unavoidably only
from international political conflicts, and more recently the Greek part of the area but comments, ideas and
in the Greek civil war (1944-1949). Consequently this extrapolations are made for the Albanian and FYROM
remote area remains relatively underdeveloped with a parts whenever available data permit it.
more or less traditional agriculture and fisheries as the We would like to thank the following referees who
main economic activities. have greatly improved the manuscripts: G. E. Hollis,
Thus, Prespa is presently facing a difficult problem: P. Isenmann, H. Klillander, J-L. Martin, H. Strijbosch,
how to be developed socio-economically for the wel J. Jalbert, J. Skinner, T. Papayannis, P. S. Maitland,
fare of its people, without jeopardizing its tremendous E. Franquet, A. Vaquer, H. J. Dumont. We would like
natural and cultural assets. We believe that whatev also to thank the inhabitants of Prespa for their collab
er the solution to this problem will be, it cannot be oration and friendship.
achieved without a close international collaboration of We particularly recognize the contribution of
the three countries sharing this ecosystem. Particularly, Dr G. E. Hollis who died suddenly in autumn 1996
a trilateral agreement on the management of the lakes is before the completion of this special issue. In the late
urgently needed considering it is the key compartment eighties he was the dynamic project leader of a WWF
of the whole ecosystem. The fate of Prespa will depend International project whose aim was to produce a Man
on how successfully this issue will be challenged. We agement Plan for the Prespa National Park in Greece.
envisage our special issue as a contribution to creating His contribution to the understanding of the function-
x
Figure 1. Landsat satellite image (1994) of the Lakes Prespa.
xi
Figure 2. View over Lake Mikri Prespa.
ing of this wetland will long be remembered. Finally the manuscript.
we would like to acknowledge R.H. Britton for correct The work to prepare this special issue would not
ing the English of the numerous non-English speaking have been possible without the financial support of the
authors and C. Heurteaux and D. Poisson for finalizing Tour du Valat Foundation.
ALAIN J. CRIVELLI GIORGOS CATSADORAKIS
Station biologique de la Society for the
Tour du Valat, Protection of Prespa,
Le Sambuc, 530 77 Agios Germanos,
13200 Aries, France Greece