A rapid survey of large branchiopods in Romania

¹ Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Department of Technical and Nature Sciences, 530104 Miercurea-Ciuc, pța. Libertății nr. 1, Romania.
² Mircea Eliade College, 545400 Sighișoara, str. 1 Decembrie nr. 31, Romania

Corresponding author: demeterlaszlo@sapientia.siculorum.ro

Abstract

Romania has a unique diversity of large branchiopods in Europe, but the present distribution of species is poorly documented. This note is a summary of a survey aimed at a rapid assessment of large branchiopod occurrence and frequency at a landscape level. The survey was conducted in ten landscapes, and it lasted from 2004 to 2006, recording fifteen species. Most species (80%) were only found in one or two landscapes, showing large differences in species composition between landscapes and possibly an underestimation of some species. Four landscapes had a frequency of large branchiopod habitats greater than 30% and together contained all the species found during the survey. Based on the relatively large detection probabilities found during this survey we suggest that a country-level distribution database could be done in a short time period (in a few years) even with few participants. Target areas for further distribution surveys should be the localities described in the published literature, flat lands and middle to large river valleys.