<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> In the Romanian sector of the Timiş River, 31 species of freshwater molluscs have been found up to the present. Among them are 17 gastropod and 14 bivalve species (including all seven species of Unionidae that live in Romania, these found in the lower sector of the river - something that is extremely rare in our waters). The present synthesis used the results of a screening type field investigation carried out in 2011, as well as all the available data from the literature and our previous studies. All these data prove the ongoing degradation of the river’s ecological state and its sheltered communities. This paper presents the annotated systematic and chorological checklist of the mollusc species from this area, some of its ecological characteristics and the main environmental issues related to human impact. Changes in species distribution and the structure of communities as an answer to increased human pressure during the last decades are also thus demonstrated. New data about some alien invasive species are given, including the first encounter with Corbicula fluminea, a species formerly known only in Romanian inland waters from the Danube, in the Timiş River lower sector.</p></abstract>

In the Romanian sector of the Timiş River, 31 species of freshwater molluscs have been found up to the present. Among them are 17 gastropod and 14 bivalve species (including all seven species of Unionidae that live in Romania, these found in the lower sector of the river - something that is extremely rare in our waters). The present synthesis used the results of a screening type field investigation carried out in 2011, as well as all the available data from the literature and our previous studies. All these data prove the ongoing degradation of the river’s ecological state and its sheltered communities. This paper presents the annotated systematic and chorological checklist of the mollusc species from this area, some of its ecological characteristics and the main environmental issues related to human impact. Changes in species distribution and the structure of communities as an answer to increased human pressure during the last decades are also thus demonstrated. New data about some alien invasive species are given, including the first encounter with Corbicula fluminea, a species formerly known only in Romanian inland waters from the Danube, in the Timiş River lower sector.

New Data Concerning the Freshwater Molluscs from the Romanian Sector of Timiş River (Banat, Romania)

“Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Environmental Sciences and

“Andrei Şaguna” Pedagogical National College, 2 Aleea Turnu Roşu St., RO - 550361 Sibiu,

Transylvanian Review of Systematical and Ecological Research

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

In the Romanian sector of the Timiş River, 31 species of freshwater molluscs have been found up to the present. Among them are 17 gastropod and 14 bivalve...

New Data Concerning the Freshwater Molluscs from the Romanian Sector of Timiş River (Banat, Romania)

Published Online: Dec 30, 2014

Page range: 89 - 108

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/trser-2013-0035.

© 2015

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.