First Record of Water Chestnut (Trapa natans L., Trapaceae, Myrtales) in Central Serbia

Abstract

Water chestnut (Trapa natans L.) is a floating macrophyte that generates differing views on its role and importance in aquatic ecosystems. It is protected as a rare species in a number of European countries and is an invasive species in some regions of the world. T. natans inhabits stagnant and slow flowing waters that exhibit large fluctuations in water level. Occurrence records are frequently reported from the north of the Republic of Serbia (Vojvodina Province), while there are no relevant data about its habitats in southern parts of the country. The first record of T. natans in Central Serbia was from the Međuvršje Reservoir on the Zapadna Morava River (the Danube River Basin) in 2011. A marked increase in species abundance in certain sections of the reservoir was observed in 2012. High water temperatures and continuous inflow of nutrients reported in recent years will most likely induce further propagation of this species, potentially leading to further eutrophication of the system and upsetting the ecological balance of the new habitat. Detailed abstractTermin Trapa natans L. 1753, (Trapaceae, Myrtales) se koristi kao zbirni naziv za kompleks sličnih vrsta vodenih makrofita koje se prvenstveno razlikuju po broju i veličini trnolikih (rogolikih) izraštaja na plodu. Obuhvata vodene jednogodišnje zeljaste flotantne biljke koje najčešće naseljavaju stajaće ili sporotekuće vode sa izraženom fluktuacijom vodostaja. Biljke imaju 3 vrste listova -podvodni su uski linearni i lancetasti, dok su na površini vode flotantni (plivajući), nazubljeni listovi rombičnog oblika. Plod je jednosemena koštunica, na preseku trouglastog oblika sa 2-4 karakteristična rogolika izraštaja. Seme vodenog oraha (Janković, 1973) sadrži velike količine skroba (52%), vode (22.5%), i proteina (15%). Zbog visokog sadržaja hranljivih materija vodeni orah je bio značajna komponenta u ishrani ljudi (posebno u neolitu) i nekih domaćih životinja, prvenstveno svinja. I danas se u nekim zemljama Jugostočne Azije gaji u akvakulturi. U SAD-u ima status invazivne korovske vrstezasenčuje i ometa razvoj drugih makrofita, u gustom sklopu otežava plovidbu na jezerima i kanalima. Intenzivno truljenje plodova povećava eutrofikaciju, pogoršava kvalitet vode i smanjuje njenu upotrebnu vrednost za vodosnabdevanje (Borojević, 2009).Prisustvo vrste je zabeleženo u većem broju stajaćih i sporotekućih vodotokova severnog regiona Srbije -Vojvodini (Stojanović, 2006;Panjković, 2008;Radulović et al. 2010;Stanković, 2011;Džigurski et al., 2013). Ne postoje relevantni podaci o prisustvu vrste na području Centralne Srbije. T. natans je prvi put registrovana u ovom regionu 2011. u akumulaciji Međuvršje na reci Zapadnoj Moravi.

Studia Quaternaria

“…This tertiary relic has a wide native range extending from western Europe and Africa to eastern and southeastern Asia. The species has been introduced into North America and Australia (Marković et al, 2015).…”

Ultimate Analysis of Water Chestnut (Trapa natans Var. bispinosa Roxb) Affected by Various Inorganic and Organic Sources

“…Fruit is a triangular-shaped, single-seeded drupe with 2-4 distinguishing horns. According to [6] seeds are high in water (22.5%), protein (15%), and carbohydrate (52%). Water chestnut was an essential food source for people (especially during the Neolithic Period) and certain livestock (mostly pigs) because of its high nutritional content.…”

Long-Term Effects of the Harvesting of Trapa natans on Local Water Quality and Aquatic Macrophyte Community in Lake Erhai, China

“…As aggravation of the water eutrophication, floating-leaved species would quickly outcompete other aquatic plants and become dominant species in many shallow water bodies (Kočić et al, 2009;Chen and Wang, 2019). As the water temperature and the input of external nutrients increase, their biomass will further increase, leading to the deepening of the eutrophication of the ecosystem and threatening the ecological balance of the habitat (Markovic et al, 2015).…”

“…On the other hand, the existence of Trapa species inhibits the propagation and spread of submerged plants, and threatens the living environment of other organisms (Caraco and Cole, 2002) by forming water environment of low oxygen concentration (Hummel and Findlay, 2006;Goodwin et al, 2008;Kato et al, 2016;Klančnik et al, 2017), low light intensity (30% coverage can block 74% of the light) (Netten, 2011), and so on, which in turn affects the service functions of lake ecosystems (Markovic et al, 2015). The low oxygen content and low underwater light intensity in local waters caused by Trapa species (Caraco and Cole, 2002;Kara et al, 2010;Klančnik et al, 2017) severely inhibit photosynthesis intensity of submerged macrophytes (Barko and Smart, 1981).…”