Aquatic habitats

The importance of the lily pound

The carpet made by water lilies is a refuge for lots of living creatures and for this reason is one of the most important environments in the Reserve. In here you can usually see herons, common moorhens, little grebe and the common seagull. You can also find lots of insects, like dragonflies, and fishes who use it to be safe from the predators and to rest in the shades during the summer.

Habitat

The watery plants (macrophytes) are becoming more and more rare in the Reserve. In some areas you can still see the lily pound, a plant association characterized by several plants which leaves stays afloat on the surface. They form a suggestive green carpet of “laminar vegetation”.

In the Reserve this small world is populated mostly by yellow water lilies or nannufero (Nuphar luteum) while the white-water lily is disappearing.

Two types of water

The walk in the Reserve skirt two ponds in which you can see two different types of water. Where there’s the lily pound, the water is crystal clear, while in the other pond the water is turbid, eutrophied and full of nutriments. The difference is to be found in its origin: the clear water came from the Fontanì’s spring, part of the municipal aqueduct once, while the turbid water came from the Lama and it’s eutrophied.