Context Large near-natural rivers have become rare in Europe, a fact reflected in the high conservation status of many riverine ecosystems. While the Balkan still harbors several intact river corridors, most of these are under pressure from planned hydropower constructions. Unfortunately, there is little information available on the hydromorphodynamics and biota of Balkan rivers under threat. Objectives We present a synthesis of research on the Vjosa in Southern Albania. Here, longitudinal continuity in water flow, undisturbed sediment transport and intact fluvial dynamics are still maintained, but threatened by two large dams planned in its downstream section. We intend to provide a first multidisciplinary inventory of this river system as an example of the knowledge base required for sound water management decisions in the Balkans. Methods Based on field work of a multidisciplinary consortium of scientists from Albania and other countries conducted from 2017 onwards, we summarize the most important findings on geomorphology of Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Bovilla Lake is a reservoir constructed 12 years ago for supplying the city of Tirana (Albania) mainly with drinking water. It has a surface area of 4.6 km(2), a maximum depth of originally 60 m and is monomictic with a stratification period from early spring to end of October. The lake is oligotrophic with low nutrient concentrations (e.g. SRP in spring about 8 μg L( -1)) and minor oxygen depletion in the hypolimnion during thermal stagnation. The lake is highly turbid due to severe particle import by several rivers during rain periods. This led to a massive deposition of sediments, lifting the maximum depth to 45 m in 2008. Furthermore, the photic zone reached hardly more than 10 m. Algal species diversity is high; however, diatoms from the genus Cyclotella dominate most of the year both in numbers and biomass. Our study describes for the first time the hydrography and limnology of the Bovilla Reservoir.