Littoral zone communities

Some examples are shown in Fig. 4.20. Together with the plants growing on wet banks the emergent vegetation provides a natural transition between the aquatic and terrestrial environments. 

The character of vegetation, i.e the producers, influences quite remarkably the character of the consumers community, i.e. the animals. 

For the littoral zone, tadpoles, frogs, salamanders and other amphibians are also typical, and there may be some reptiles (snakes and tortoises). 

Of the higher forms of animals, shellfish can be frequently found, particularly the well-known Anodonta cygnea L. and crayfish Astacus lepto-dactylus. 

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Williams et al. (2002) compared the plant and macroinvertebrate communities of small microcosms to those of natural ponds in Britain. Using multivariate analyses, they showed that the fauna of the microcosms were most similar to those of less common deep circumneutral ponds and did not closely mimic more commonly occurring shallow ponds. The microcosms lacked a wide variety of invertebrate groups and plants typical of shallow natural ponds that possess a littoral zone. 

Loss of sensitive species of minnow and dace, such as black-nose dace and fathead minnow in some waters decreased reproductive success of lake trout and walleye, which are important sport fish species in some areas Visual accumulations of filamentous green algae in the littoral zone of many lakes, in some streams Distinct decrease in the species richness and change in species composition of the phytoplankton, zooplankton, and benthic invertebrate communities, although little if any change in total community biomass or production... 

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