Corresponding author: Ivailo Dedov (
Academic editor: Fabio Crocetta
We give the results from the first investigation focused on the land snail fauna in Srebarna Nature Reserve in Bulgaria. A total of 23 localities were studied and 27 species of terrestrial gastropods were found, 23 of which were new observations for the Reserve.
Srebarna Lake was declared as a protected site in 1942 and as a Nature Reserve in 1948. In 1998, according to the national nature protection legislation, it was classified as a “Managed Reserve”. In 1975, Srebarna Lake was also protected as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention and, in 1977, as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. In 1983, it was listed as World Natural and Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO, and in 1989 the Lake was designated as European Important Bird Area (BG 033) by BirdLife International. Srebarna Lake was also included in Natura 2000 network in 2009 (
Srebarna is a hyper-euthrophic lake, located on the Bulgarian (right) bank of the Danube River between R.km 391 and R.km 393; UTM grid NJ 08. The Nature Reserve has a total surface area of 902.1 ha (
Until the recent study, no previous focused investigations had been carried out on terrestrial snails in the Reserve.
In total, 23 localities were studied (Table
IUCN: LC
IUCN: LC
IUCN: LC, BSG, ZBR-41
IUCN: LC
IUCN: LC
IUCN: LC
IUCN: LC
IUCN: LC
IUCN: DD
During the recent research in the Srebarna protected area, 27 land snails species were found: 23 of them were new species records for the reserve and four had been documented in the area previously.
The species
The species found in most localities were
Of all the species recorded, eight have been evaluated in the “
The deciduous forests in the buffer zone of Srebarna Reserve were found to be richer in gastropod species than the reserve itself (a total of 24 species, 13 of which were found only in this habitat). These were meso-xerophyle and xerophyle species which live in the forest ecotone (
In the open and urban areas, nine species were found and two of them were of conservation significance (
The recent study was part of the project DIR-5113325-6-96 of the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water, Operational Programme Environment 2007-2013, RIEW Russe.
The authors like to thank Anu Veijalainen for the linguistic corrections. We are grateful to the reviewers for helpful remarks.
Above:
Studied localities in Srebarna Nature Reserve.
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1 |
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village Srebarna, on stone fence | 12-13.06.2014 |
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2 |
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village Srebarna, yard of IBER house | 12-15.06.2014 | |
3 |
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village Srebarna, meadows near roads in the village | 12-15.06.2014 | |
4 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, meadows and bushes | 13.06.2014 | |
5 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, meadow near lake | 13.06.2014 | |
6 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, meadow and bushes | 13.06.2014 | |
7 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, meadow and bushes | 13.06.2014 |
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8 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, meadow and bushes | 13.06.2014 | |
9 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, meadow | 13.06.2014 |
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10 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, open terrain near Danube | 13.06.2014 | |
11 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, forest | 13.06.2014 | |
12 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, meadow and bushes | 14.06.2014 | |
13 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, meadow and bushes | 14.06.2014 | |
14 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, meadow and bushes | 14.06.2014 | |
15 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, forest | 14.06.2014 | |
16 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, cane near the water, single acacias | 19.07.2014 | |
17 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, shrubs near road, deciduous forest ecotone | 19.07.2014 |
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18 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, open terrain near gazebo | 19.07.2014 |
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19 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, acacias' forest | 19.07.2014 | |
20 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, coniferous forest (Pinus nigra) | 19.07.2014 |
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21 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, shrubs | 19.07.2014 |
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22 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, bank of the Danube river, northern Gateway | 19.07.2014 |
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23 |
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Srebarna Reserve, buffer zone, grasses near lake shore (near the village) | 20.07.2014 |
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