INVENTORY OF AQUATIC AND RIPARIAN FLORA OF ACHERON AND LOUROS RIVERS, AND ZIROU LAKE IN WESTERN GREECE

Although rivers and riparian zone consists an important feature of the landscape, surveying aquatic and riparian flora has rarely been implemented in Greece. In this paper an updated inventory of aquatic and riparian species from the rivers Acheron and Louros and the adjacent Zirou Lake, located in Western Greece, is presented. The study area is partly included in the European network of protected areas ‘Natura 2000’ and is of great scientific interest due to its biodiversity. A total of 329 aquatic and riparian taxa were recorded, belonging to 85 families and 200 genera. Specifically in Acheron and Louros river 200 taxa and 220 taxa were recorded respectively and 21 taxa in Zirou lake. In the floristic inventory of the studied areas two taxa, Batrachospermum sp. and Chara vulgaris f. longibracteata are reported for the first time from Greece as well as three taxa Chara gymnophylla, Plagiomnium cuspidatum, and Najas minor are up today rare species for Greece. Furthermore, the bryophytes taxa Cinclidotus aquaticus, Oxyrrhynchium speciosum, Eurhynchiastrum pulchellum and Plagiomnium cuspidatum are reported for the first time from Western Greece. Several floristic parameters related to life forms and geographical distributions of plant species (chorology) were examined and the percentages of therophytes, widely distributed, ruderal, and invasive species were described.