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This study represents a first reference database of genetic diversity of macroinvertebrates for a barcoding marker for Lake Maggiore, focusing on the two dominant groups of the littoral benthic fauna (chironomids and oligochaetes), commonly used for biological monitoring of freshwater lakes. Sediment samples were sorted at the stereomicroscope and single animals were cut in two pieces, one piece to be used for morphological identification and one piece for DNA extraction. This study allowed us to collect and identify 427 organisms: 309 oligochaetes belonging to 27 identifiable taxa and 118 chironomid larvae belonging to 26 identifiable taxa. Four families of oligochaetes: Naididae, Lumbricidae, Lumbriculidae, and Enchytraeidae and five subfamilies of Chironomidae: Chironominae, Tanypodinae, Orthocladiinae, Diamesinae, and Prodiamesinae were found. The extraction and amplification of the DNA covered a total of 10 oligochaete taxa. For 7 of them (Ophidonais serpentina, Uncinais uncinata, Vejdovskyella intermedia, Psammoryctides barbatus, Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri, Tubifex tubifex, and Bothrioneurum vejdovskyanum), we found other sequences in GenBank to compare genetic similarities with available data. For the other taxa (Lumbriculidae, and Enchytraeidae, and Nais sp.) no best hits were found in GenBank. The extraction and amplification of the DNA covered a total of 21 chironomid taxa. For ten species (Cladotanytarsus mancus, Cladotanytarsus atridorsum, Polypedilum scalaenum, Polypedilum nubeculosum, Benthalia carbonaria, Phaenopsectra flavipes, Clinotanypus nervosus, Paracladopelma laminatum, Cryptochironomus rostratus and Parakiefferiella finnmarkica) sequences were available in GenBank to compare genetic similarities. For the other taxa (Cryptochironomus sp., Demicryptochironomus vulneratus, Chironomus sp., Stictochironomus sp., Orthocladius sp., Cricotopus sp., Eukiefferiella sp., Procladius sp., Diamesa sp., Potthastia sp., and Monodiamesa bathyphila) no best hits were found in GenBank. For chironomids, DNA taxonomy revealed the existence of several species complexes. Covering more populations and more genetic markers for those taxa within a rationale of integrative taxonomy could solve the taxonomic problems and provide a reliable description of diversity.

The potential invasiveness of alien macroinvertebrate species in the Italian/Swiss hydrographic system of Lake Maggiore (NW Italy) was assessed through the Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit, a risk assessment tool developed for quantifying the impacts of alien species on the commercial, environmental, and species traits sectors. Data were collected using the databases provided by two regional environmental agencies in northern Italy (Lombardy and Piedmont regions) and by the governmental monitoring program of Switzerland, which were integrated with a systematic literature search on Google scholar and ISI Web of Science. In the assessment area, 16 macroinvertebrate invasive alien species were reported: nine mollusks, four decapods, and three amphipods. The species assessment indicated seven species with a high level of invasiveness: Procambarus clarkii, Faxonius&nbsp, limosus (formerly, Orconectes limosus) and Pacifastacus leniusculus, Dreissena polymorpha, Corbicula fluminea, Sinanodonta woodiana, and Pseudosuccinea columella. The results allow invasive species managers to understand which species to focus their monitoring on in the near future in order to track IAS movements and limit their spread within the hydrographic system and to provide the identification and refinement of concerted bilateral strategies aimed at limiting the impacts of these species. They also account for the implications of future climate change on the invasion potential of each species.

Alpine and pre-alpine lotic ecosystems are often remote and not affected by humans, which makes them some of the world’s most pristine ecosystems. However, their status is often altered by the presence of reservoirs that are built to fulfill agricultural needs and hydroelectric demands. These reservoirs also disrupt stream continuity and alter the magnitude, timing, and frequency of natural flows. The present work assessed how high-altitude reservoirs affect the riverine ecosystems focusing on the following: (i) the macroinvertebrate communities, (ii) the breakdown of organic matter, and (iii) the thermal regime. Stretches altered by high-altitude reservoirs had the best conditions for most macroinvertebrate families due to a more stable flow conditions. The breakdown rate of coarse particulate organic matter was not affected by high-altitude reservoirs but its availability was higher in altered compared to pristine stretches. The presence of hydroelectric power plants modified the stream thermal regime. Reservoirs mitigate the atmospheric influence on stream water temperature while run of the river plants strengthen it in the diverted stretches. Where both these alterations were present, the thermal regime of the stream was more similar to the natural ones compared to stretches subjected to only one kind of alteration. This research showed how river impoundment alters the structure of macroinvertebrate communities and the function of the downstream lotic ecosystems and can provide the basis to correctly guide management strategies for lotic ecosystems affected by hydrological alterations.

Microplastic particles (MPs) contamination of aquatic environments has raised a growing concern in recent decades because of their numerous potential toxicological effects. Although fish are among the most studied aquatic organisms, reports on MPs ingestion in freshwater environments are still scarce. Thus, there is still much to study to understand the uptake mechanisms, their potential accumulation among the food webs and their ecotoxicological effects. Here, MPs presence in the digestive system of one of the most widespread and commercially exploited freshwater fish, the perch (Perca fluviatilis, Linnaeus 1758), was investigated in four different south-alpine lakes, to assess the extent of ingestion and evaluate its relation to the body health condition. A total of 80 perch specimen have been sampled from the Italian lakes Como, Garda, Maggiore and Orta. Microplastic particles occurred in 86% of the analysed specimens, with average values ranging from 1.24 ± 1.04 MPs fish−1 in L. Como to 5.59 ± 2.61 MPs fish−1 in L. Garda. The isolated particles were mainly fragments, except in L. Como where films were more abundant. The most common polymers were polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyamide, and polycarbonate, although a high degree of degradation was found in 43% of synthetic particles, not allowing their recognition up to a single polymer. Despite the high number of ingested MPs, fish health (evaluated by means of Fulton's body condition and hepatosomatic index) was not affected. Instead, fullness index showed an inverse linear relationship with the number of ingested particles, which suggests that also in perch MPs presence could interfere with feeding activity, as already described for other taxa.

To assess if environmental differences other than water quality may affect the outcome of the Benthic Quality Index, a comparison of the application of four different methods (Benthic Quality Index&mdash, BQIES, Lake Habitat Modification Score&mdash, LHMS, Lake Habitat Quality Assessment&mdash, LHQA and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development&mdash, OECD) used to classify the lake ecological and hydro-morphological status of 10 Italian lakes was performed. Five lakes were natural and five were reservoirs belonging to both Alpine and Mediterranean Ecoregions. The 10 lakes were sampled using the Water Framework Directive compliant standardized national protocol, which includes sampling soft sediment in the littoral, sublittoral and deep layers along transects with a grab of 225 cm2 during spring and autumn. The application of Generalised Linear Mixed Effect Models both at the lake level and at the single station of each lake highlighted that, at the lake level, no significant correlations existed between any couple of hydro-morphological, ecological and trophic status assessments, with each metric representing a different facet of human impact on the environment. At the single site level, we found significant effects of depth on the metrics of biodiversity. The best approximation of single-site macroinvertebrates diversity among the metrics of overall lake quality was with the LHMS, but not with the BQIES. Our hypotheses that lake macroinvertebrates assemblages depend also on other potential confounding variables of habitat degradation and intrinsic differences between lakes were confirmed, with depth playing a major role. Therefore, the assessment of lakes with different depths may produce different whole-lake BQIES values, only because of the effect of depth gradient and not because of differences in lake quality.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to monitor continental water bodies in Europe to achieve good ecological status. Indexes based on biological quality elements (BQEs), ecotoxicological tests, and chemical characterizations are commonly used with standardized protocols to assess sediment quality and the associated risks. Here, we compare the results of quality assessment of benthic macroinvertebrates as BQEs as required by the WFD with the results of ecotoxicological tests and assessment of selected persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in sediments of the same eight water bodies in Italy. The aim was to verify if the assessment of quality through macroinvertebrates through POPs analyses and ecotoxicological tools can yield comparable, overlapping, or complementary results. We used the Benthic Quality Index (BQIES) for macroinvertebrates (two different applications), legacy POPs (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane and metabolites (DDTs) and polychlorinated-biphenyls (PCBs)), and the emergence ratio (ER) and development rate (DR) for ecotoxicology. The results showed that the two indices within each approach were highly correlated, but between approaches, each result can lead to a completely different scenario, with rather different results of the assessment of ecosystem quality. The most striking result was that very few significant correlations existed between sediment quality assessment through macroinvertebrates and the risk assessment through analyses of micropollutants and ecotoxicological tests. The highest absolute r-value (0.81) was for the correlation between the BQIESbottom index and PCBs for micropollutants, whereas all other pairwise comparisons between indices had r-values ranging between 0.07 and 0.53. Our analysis calls for a caveat in the blind application of one or only a few indices of water/sediment quality, as the results of a single index may not represent the complexity of a freshwater ecosystem.

The Water Framework Directive introduced in Europe major changes to improve the management of water resources. This study aims to highlight some of the potential implications of its implementation for lake water monitoring in Italy. A Life+ project was launched to plan the first monitoring of lake macroinvertebrates standardized at the national level. Quantile regression analysis was used to explain different metrics of diversity describing macroinvertebrate communities in response to twenty-one variables representing chemical, physical and morphological characteristics of the environment. Nine lakes located in two Italian regions (Piedmont and Sardinia) were analyzed covering a wide trophic spectrum, from oligotrophy to hyper-eutrophy. The lakes were sampled following the national standardized protocol with samples covering the three recognized lake zones: littoral, sublittoral, profundal. The studied lakes had high chemical variability with conductivity ranging between 53 and 561 μS/cm, pH between 6.5 and 9.1, and alkalinity between 14 and 398 mg/l. The bottom sediments were characterized by fine sand (range 51–99%), followed by silt (1–35%) and clay (0–28%). When the Lake Habitat Survey was also applied to these lakes, its synthetic indices (LHMS, Lake Habitat Modification Score and LHQA, Lake Habitat Quality Assessment) produced higher values in natural lakes (mean values ± SD: LHMS = 26 ± 7, LHQA = 57 ± 3) than in the reservoirs (LHMS = 22 ± 4, LHQA = 52 ± 6). In all lakes, macroinvertebrates mainly consisted of chironomids and oligochaetes characterized by relative abundances up to 80% and >90%, respectively. Using quantile regression to evaluate limiting responses, only two variables, namely sampling depth and oxygen percent saturation (oxygen content), resulted the ones that best explained all the analyzed metrics of diversity of the macroinvertebrate communities. Depth and oxygen were then used to suggest synthetic models describing the various metrics of potential community diversity. These models can help the environmental agencies responsible for monitoring at the national level in distinguishing entire lakes or part of them with high biodiversity from those in altered conditions and then address remediation efforts toward the water bodies with the most critical conditions. Such approach could also be used to optimize the sampling procedures for the application of the Benthic Quality Index for lakes currently adopted at national level.

The potential of subterranean environments as models to address major evolutionary and ecological questions has been highlighted in the literature. They represent partially isolated, discrete units offering several replicates of the same evolutionary processes. Species occurrence data of these environments is abundant, although sparse in the literature or gathered in databases established according to regional, taxonomical, or ecological criteria. We here present a newly assembled dataset consisting of records of aquatic animals in all types of caves or wells from all over the world. Literature sources were gathered from Google Scholar by independently searching for each metazoan phylum/arthropod order, as well as the key words “cave”, “groundwater”, “well”, or “stygobite”, in English, Galician, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalonian, French, Italian, Hungarian, Greek, German, Polish, Russian, and Serbo-Croatian. The relevance of each source was confirmed after checking the title and the abstract. For each selected source, we examined its reference list in order to identify studies that were not published in journals indexed in the databases we searched. From the 6852 selected references, we manually extracted all records that concerned either occurrence of a species in a given geographical area or occurrence of any taxon in a particular cave or well. occurrence of a species in a given geographical area or occurrence of any taxon in a particular cave or well. Records were classified as primary or secondary, depending on whether they provided new information or referred to already publish records, allowing us to identify redundant information in posterior analyses. Information for each access point was organized in as a gazetteer, including synonym names, geographical, ecological, and geological information. Following this strategy, we have obtained 48,800 records (32,769, primary) from 1957 references checked so far. Most records are amongst fish and crustaceans. In contrast, few data exist for other groups that are comparatively diverse outside caves, such as Nematoda. Relevant information will be included in World Register of Marine Cave Species (Fig. 1).

Larvae, pupae and adult males of two populations of Chironomus (Chironomus) aprilinus Meigen, 1818 from two saline habitats in North and South Italy (Poiano spring and Giammatteo channel respectively) are described. The species can be easily identified at the larval stage because of the unequal length of ventral tubuli. The examination of pupal exuviae, adult male and salivary gland chromosomes confirmed the species identification. The two habitats differ in location and in salinity, the former (Poiano) is an inland spring in Northern Apennines (Emilia) with high salinity (12000 mg L-1), the latter (Giammatteo) is a channel near Lecce (Puglia) with a relatively low salinity content (1720 mg L-1) feeding a coastal lagoon (Acquatina). On the basis of the present information no substantial differences except in some morphometric measures were apparent between the two populations, despite the different salinity of the two habitats.

Introduction of alien species is one of the major threats to aquatic biota and knowledge of the major correlates of their occurrence is pivotal in planning reliable conservation strategies. 2. To understand whether specific freshwater habitats are more likely to be invaded than others, a dataset on the occurrence of 1604 species in 54 taxonomic groups from 181 sites across the Italian peninsula was gathered. 3. TheEUNIShabitatclassificationwas used, selectingfor the study's seven habitat types at thesecondEUNIS level, including lentic (EUNIS C1; 64 sites), lotic (EUNIS C2; 99 sites) and highly artificial (EUNIS J5; 18 sites) habitats. 4. The aim of the study was to test whether the overall number of alien species and the proportion of alien species for each taxonomic group differed between habitat types and could be explained by environmental, human-mediated, or climatic factors. 5. Using generalized linear mixed effect models to account for potential confounding factors, only average air temperature of the site was a significant positive predictor of the occurrence of alien species, regardless of habitat type, species richness, and other climatic variables. 6. A direct effect of temperature could be excluded given the origin of alien species, mostly from colder areas than Italy. Thus, an indirect effect could be hypothesized at the Italian latitudes, with warmer areas potentially

Pseudosmittia fabioi Boggero, Zaupa & Rossaro, 2014 was found to be conspecific with Prosmittia verae Krasheninnikov & Makarchenko, 2008 after examination of original description and illustrations. Accordingly, Ps. fabioi is placed in junior synonymy with Pr. verae, new synonymy. The transfer of Ps. fabioi to the genus Prosmittia allows to state that the female of Ps. fabioi (Boggero et al., 2014) is the first description of the female of the genus Prosmittia.

We present a data set on the biodiversity of Italian freshwaters, including lakeshores and riverbanks of natural (N=379: springs, streams and lakes) and artificial (N=11: fountains) sites. The data set belongs partly to the Italian Long Term Ecological Research network (LTER-Italy) and partly to LifeWatch, the European e-Science infrastructure for biodiversity and ecosystem research. The data included cover a time period corresponding to the last fifty years (1962-2014). They span a large number of taxa from prokaryotes and unicellular eukaryotes to vertebrates and plants, including taxa linked to the aquatic habitat in at least part of their life cycles (like immature stages of insects, amphibians, birds and vascular plants). The data set consists of 6463 occurrence data and distribution records for 1738 species. The complete data set is available in csv file format via the LifeWatch Service Centre.

L'obiettivo principale di LifeWatch, un'infrastruttura europea di e-Science sulla biodiversità e sugli ecosistemi, consiste nel rafforzare la ricerca scientifica sulla biodiversità attraverso la creazione di laboratori virtuali sul web, flessibili e avanzati. Tre casi di studio sono stati proposti da LifeWatch a livello europeo per facilitare lo sviluppo di ricerche integrate su questioni scientifiche fondamentali: dati già esistenti sono stati utilizzati, organizzati e migliorati con l'aggiunta di ulteriori informazioni e resi accessibili alla comunità scientifica e al grande pubblico. L'Italia coordina il caso di studio sulle specie aliene d'acqua dolce per valutare la vulnerabilità di questi ecosistemi alla loro invasione. A causa della stretto legame con le attività umane, le acque dolci sono soggette da secoli all'invasione di specie aliene e stanno soffrendo una perdita di biodiversità a tassi anche superiori a quelli registrati nei biomi terrestri. Le specie aliene sono estremamente difficili da gestire una volta entrate in un ambiente nuovo, quindi lo sforzo scientifico per comprendere i meccanismi che causano il loro successo e per trovare mezzi adeguati per la loro prevenzione dovrebbe essere elevato. Diversi studi hanno analizzato le cause forzanti della loro presenza, il ruolo dei cambiamenti climatici nel facilitare il loro arrivo e la loro diffusione, o l'impatto causato a livello di ecosistemi. Questi sono alcuni dei problemi che questa sessione affronta per capire meglio il processo delle invasioni biologiche al fine di ridurre il loro aumento e per applicare misure di conservazione della biodiversità più efficaci.

A new species of Pseudosmittia Edwards 1932, P. fabioi, from Sardinia (Palearctic region), is described and figured as male and female. The generic diagnosis is emended based on characters found in the new species. The species is characterized by a triangular anal point with microtrichia at apex (not projecting beyond tergite IX), an inferior volsella characterized by a rounded lobe with a setose accessory lobe adpressed to the gonocoxite, a well developed tooth-like projection on the outer margin of the gonostylus, the lack of acrostichals and an antenna with 6 flagellomeres in female.

Si propone il protocollo nazionale di campionamento dei macroinvertebrati in ambiente lacustre, standardizzato ed approvato dal Gruppo di Lavoro delle agenzie ambientali creato appositamente da ISPRA ambiente. Tale protocollo, inserito nel Decreto sul Monitoraggio, è quindi quello che ogni agenzia deve adottare per il campionamento dei laghi per ottemperare alle richieste della Direttiva Quadro sulle Acque.

Si propone un approccio macroecologico, grazie a cui si analizza la presenza di specie aliene in animali, piante e microrganismi in diversi habitat appartenenti ad ecosistemi d'acqua dolce italiani. In particolare, si analizza la presenza di specie aliene in 55 gruppi tassonomici di 182 siti. Sembra che la presenza di specie aliene sia determinata principalmente dalla pressione dei propaguli, espressa come distanza da zone densamente abitate. Le differenze nel tipo di habitat e nella comunità hanno invece effetti trascurabili. Questo è quindi il primo studio a supporto del l'ipotesi della pressione dei propaguli in una vasta gamma di taxa.

Risultati del progetto Life+Inhabit. Vengono mostrate le relazioni tra fauna a macroinvertebrati e variabili chimiche delle acque, dei sedimenti e granulometriche. Inoltre vengono illustrati i primi risultati riguardo le interazioni tra il macrobenthos e le alterazioni morfologiche, valutate applicando il metodo Lake Habitat Survey.

Si presentano le diverse modalità di campionamento che è possibile adottare in ambiente alpino o subalpino, e a diverse profondità per lo studio dei macroinvertebrati. Si passano in rassegna gli strumenti utilizzati sia per il campionamento delle acque lentiche, che quelle lotiche, caratterizzate da substrati duri o molli. Si forniscono inoltre suggerimenti sulle metodologie più idonee per lo studio di macroinvertebrati di grandi dimensioni (Molluschi e Decapodi) e per insetti in emersione dalle acque. Infine, si guida il lettore alle diverse attività da condurre in campo o in laboratorio, per una corretta conservazione dei campioni. Si parla anche di tecniche di sottocampionamento e di effettiva utilità delle stesse e di quali aspetti fisico-chimici dell'acqua e dei sedimenti possono essere utili per una migliore interpretazione dei dati ottenuti. Si propone infine una schema dettagliato della metodica di campionamento approvata ai fini della classificazione ecologica dei laghi secondo WFD.

This report summarizes the finding of the InHabit project on the importance of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in affecting the chemical composition of lake water and in eventually altering the biological communities living in them. Previous deliverables (I2d5, Id26 and I2d7) have shown that; 1. in both regions studied in the InHabit project (Piedmont and Sardinia), atmospheric deposition of nitrogen compounds is relevant; 2. the flux of nitrogen from the atmosphere to the ecosystem is markedly larger in Piedmont than in Sardinia; 3. models of the dynamic behavior of nitrogen in forested catchments indicates that Piedmon soils are mainly N-saturated, so that nitrogen carried by atmospheric deposition can be released form forest soil to the surface water; 4. in Sardinia, soil are less saturated, but a part of the deposited nitrogen is still carried to surface water; 5. trend analysis of deposition and stream water revealed that nitrogen deposition is stable or slightly decreasing in recent years, both in atmospheric deposition and in stream water; 6. the importance relative importance of N deposition is relevant for sites in or close to reference conditions; 7. the relationships between environmental variables and organisms belonging to the four biotic communities used to define the lake's ecological quality, according to provisions of the Italian legislation (D.Lgs. 260, November 2010) and the European Water Framework 2000/60 differ depending on the biological quality element considered; 8. phytoplankton community shows the clearer responses: according to the result of multivariate analysis, total nitrogen and ammonium nitrogen are among the most significant factors explaining the relationships among phytoplankton orders, species and environmental variables. In particular, cyanobacteria increased considerably with increasing availability of ammonium nitrogen. Conversely, high concentrations of this compound suppress the development of diatoms. On the basis of those results, which are summarized in this deliverable, we focused on the effect of different levels of nitrogen in lakes with low phosphorus concentration, slightly affected by direct trophic pressure and close to the reference conditions. The comparison between two lakes in Piedmont with low P concentration and high N concentration with two reservoirs in Sardinia with low levels of both nutrients shows that the formers are dominated by diatoms and the latter by dynophytes. Two reservoirs in Piedmont with high N levels are also dominated by diatoms. In spite of the small number of lakes studied, it seems that dynophytes are more fitted to low N lakes, probably because of their ability to use an heterotrophic metabolism, while lakes in reference conditions are generally considered to be dominated by oligotrophic diatoms, Our findings call for deeper studies on reference conditions in the Mediterranean ecoregion, because they suggest that lakes not affected by direct trophic pressure, i.e. reference lakes, may host different diatom communities depending on the amount of nitrogen deposition they receive.

A relational database was set up to host the high resolution biological, cvhemical and hydromorphological data produced within the InHabit project. Based on previous partial databases (Deliverables I1d2 and I1d3) the database was built using PostgreSQL, an Open Source Relational Database Management system. The data base contains information on the habitat surveys, information on lake water chemistry and the four biological quality elements quoted in the Annex V of the Directive 2000/60/EC (Water Framework Directive) for lakes: phytoplankton, macrophytes, benthic macroinvertebrates and fishes. With respect to the previous databases, more temporal and taxonomical resolution is provided. At the moment, Lake Habitat survey information are available for 13 lakes and or reservoirs, totaling 170 habitat plots an 170 inter-plot shore descriptions. Chemical data are available for 13 lakes and 258 samples. For what concern the biological quality elements, phytoplankton (58 samples and 281 taxa), macrophyte (94 samples and 20 taxa) and benthos (28 sample and 177 taxa) data are stored at the species level, while fish data are stored at the speciemen level (607 specimen, belonging to 29 species in 16 samples).

This deliverable presents a first analysis linking some selected hydromorphological information and quality elements. In particular, we investigated the relationships between biological quality elements (macroinvertebrates, fishes and macrophytes) and some hydromorphological parameters, collected with the Lake Habitat Survey (LHS) method, as the characteristics of the substratum of the littoral and sub-littoral zone, the characteristics of the bank with or without artificial elements, level variations, and human activities in the lake and in the riparian zone, as camping, nautical activities. In this deliverable we also analyzed some meteorological parameters (precipitations and temperatures pluriannual average) of the two studied Regions, in order to identify peculiarities and to establish if anomalies were registered during the sampling period and to identify possible natural biologic variability connected to particular climatic events. For each biologic element, numerical analyses were performed to evaluate its response to hydromorphological parameters. In particular for the macroinvertebrates, we only used data collected in Lake Viverone, as samples collected in both winter and autumn samplings were analyzed. Beside Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) and Redundancy Analysis (RDA), the BQIES index was also calculated, to evaluate if the anthropogenic pressures on the coast can influence the benthic community. The analysis was performed using as response variable the relative abundance of each taxa, selecting taxa with maximum relative abundance above 1%. Independent variables included the chemical data (TP, TN, alkalinity and percent oxygen saturation), and hydromorphological parameters. The statistical significance of the analyses was checked using a Monte Carlo permutation test. According to the described numerical analysis, fauna composition in and the sampling stations can be classified in three principal groups, according seasonality and anthropogenic modifications on the littoral zone. Correlations between BQIES indexes and the hydromorphological variables do exist, but did not result statistically significant. From our analysis, it appears that to better understand the quality of the waterbody, it is necessary to sample the littoral zone in several points around the shore, avoiding points close to inflows. Concerning fish fauna, data were available 8 lakes or reservoirs, 3 in Piedmont (Candia, Mergozzo, Morasco) and 5 in Sardinia (Serrù, Posada, Liscia, Bidighinzu and Sos Canales). We investigated the relationship between hydromorphological parameters and (1) the number of the species caught with nets, (2) the number of species caught with electrofishing, (3) species abundances, (4) fish weight and (5) fish length. The matrixes for the analysis were built choosing electrofishing points or nets located close to the hab-plots, where hydromorphological characteristics of the riparian zone were evaluated. Numerical analysis used again CCA with Monte Carlo permutation tests. In particular, two CCAs were performed relating hydromorphological parameters and fish fauna synthetic parameters, such as the number of fish for net/point, the total weight for net/point, the medium length and the medium weight. Monte Carlo permutation test did not detect any significant variable relating habitat features and the species distribution, while the number of collected fishes was more representative of hydromorphological condition. In general, with this limited dataset the relationships between fish fauna and chemical and physical variables seems stronger than the relationships with hydromorphological features; however it will be possible repeat the analysis with a larger dataset when other InHabit lakes (Viverone, Sirio and Avigliana piccolo) will be sampled. Concerning macrophytes, numerical analysis were based on data collected on 5 natural lakes in Piedmont: Avigliana Piccolo, Candia, Mergozzo, Sirio and Viverone. We first selected macrophytes sampling transects close to LHS habplots, using a geographical information system, and considering the extension of the macrophyte sampling sites. The relationships between the hydromorphological parameters and the composition of macrophyte assemblages was the investigated using again CCA and Monte Carlo permutation test, and using percent relative abundances as response variables. Hydromorphological features of the shore do not significantly influence lake classification based on macrophytes, but a high number of transects is necessary to accurately classify the lake, with a particular attention to the presence of submerge macrophytes, usually located in small areas, to avoid an undervaluation the ecological quality of the lake. The composition of macrophyte community resulted influenced by substrate features, land use on the shore and the surrounding area. In one case (Lake Mergozzo), the total lack of macrophytes prevented the possibility to classify the lake quality using this biological element. To reduce classification uncertainties, it is still necessary to find deeper relationships between hydromorphological pressures and biological elements, macroinvertebrates and macrophytes, investigating a higher number of lakes and specific pressures with a detailed sampling scheme. More contemporary information will be collected, the better will be the knowledge of lake system and the relationships between human pressures and impacts on the biological quality. A deeper knowledge of these aspects will enable to design more effectively the recovery measures and to reduce the uncertainty in classification and in the detection of the effects of the restoration measures. A more detailed analysis of the relationships between biological parameters and hydromorphological features will be attempted again when the biological datasets will be improved, and fish sampling completed.

This report presents an analysis of the relationships between environmental variables and organisms belonging to the four biotic communities used to define the lake's ecological quality, according to provisions of the Italian legislation (D.Lgs. 260, November 2010) and the European Water Framework 2000/6. The data analyzed were collected during the sampling surveys carried out within InHabit Project in 13 water bodies, 7 in Piedmont and 6 in Sardinia respectively. In particular, the aim of the study was to evaluate the possible effects of nitrogen on biotic communities. Phytoplankton community shown the clearer responses: according to the result of multivariate analysis, total nitrogen and ammonium nitrogen are among the most significant factors explaining the relationships among phytoplankton orders, species and environmental variables. In particular, cyanobacteria increased considerably with increasing availability of ammonium nitrogen. Conversely, high concentrations of this compound suppress the development of diatoms. Other algal groups show a nonlinear response with respect to nitrogen, with a possible limitation under low levels of nitrogen and an inhibition at higher levels. A comparative analysis, carried out to evaluate the response to the gradient of total phosphorus, shows that this nutrient is not as selective as nitrogen in controlling the structure of the algal assemblage in different environmental conditions. Other biotic communities did not show a clear relationship with nitrogen, but they rather responded to the trophic gradient as a whole: responses by macroinvertebrates seem, especially in the analysis of functional groups, complex and difficult to discriminate, highlighting a possible shifting of the food web towards the presence of large carnivores at high trophic status. Regarding the fish, the results show that nitrogen alone does not seem to be an important controlling factor for the fish communities. However together with the phosphorus, is one of the main elements controlling both biomass and size of the fish fauna, as well as the presence of tolerant, omnivorous or benthofagous species. In conclusion, the results of our analysis highlight the need for a greater emphasis on nitrogen inputs, which, especially in cases of nitrogen carried by atmospheric deposition, may even affect lake ecosystems relatively distant from direct impacts of human activities, thus altering the structure of biotic communities.

The biology of Plecoptera from high altitude Himalayan freshwaters is almost unknown. Very few and sporadic studies have been devoted to these insects, and exclusively with a taxonomic approach. We provide information on the feeding of Capnia nymphs from three lakes localized above 4,800 m a.s.l. (NE Nepal). Nymphs from these high altitude lakes feed mainly on fine detritus, acting as collector- gatherers, with the accidental ingestion of mineral matter, mostly in larger specimens. It is likely that the harsh environmental conditions in our study area create an environment unfavorable to both the allochthonous input of coarse particulate organic matter (such as terrestrial leaves) and the autochthonous input related to aquatic primary productivity, so that these nymphs feed on small organic particles that originates mainly from the catchment.

Introduction of alien species is one of the major threats to aquatic biota and knowledge of the major correlates of their occurrence is pivotal in planning reliable conservation strategies. To understand whether specific freshwater habitats are more likely to be invaded than others, a dataset on the occurrence of 1604 species in 54 taxonomic groups from 181 sites across the Italian peninsula was gathered. The EUNIS habitat classification was used, selecting for the study's seven habitat types at the second EUNIS level, including lentic (EUNIS C1; 64 sites), lotic (EUNIS C2; 99 sites) and highly artificial (EUNIS J5; 18 sites) habitats. The aim of the study was to test whether the overall number of alien species and the proportion of alien species for each taxonomic group differed between habitat types and could be explained by environmental, human-mediated, or climatic factors. Using generalized linear mixed effect models to account for potential confounding factors, only average air temperature of the site was a significant positive predictor of the occurrence of alien species, regardless of habitat type, species richness, and other climatic variables. A direct effect of temperature could be excluded given the origin of alien species, mostly from colder areas than Italy. Thus, an indirect effect could be hypothesized at the Italian latitudes, with warmer areas potentially more likely to be visited by tourists than colder areas. If this hypothesis is confirmed, the results of the analyses call for a compromise between the maintenance of recreational activities in the wild and the preservation of a natural environment to prevent the arrival and spread of alien species. On the other hand, no further recommendations can be implemented regarding habitat susceptibility to alien species. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.