A rapid survey of large branchiopods in Romania

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 landscapelevel. 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 andpossibly 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 duringthis survey we suggest that a country-level distribution database could be done in a short time period (in a few years) even withfew participants. Target areas for further distribution surveys should be the localities described in the published literature, flatlands and middle to large river valleys.