Párnický rybár

FLORA OF PÁRNICA LAKES

The Párnica Lakes, forming a complex of the main arm of the Orava River and several lakes, are bordered by riparian vegetation dominated by woody plants such as brittle willows, bird cherry trees and shrubby forms of willows such as purple willows. The specimens of the European ash tree, the grey alder, the black elder, the blood dogwood and the viburnum are interspersed. The species composition of the trees is also influenced by the occurrence of other species in the vicinity. The lakes themselves, which are dominated by stagnant and partly flowing water, are habitats for hygrophytes, i.e. wetland plants, and hydrophytes, i.e. aquatic plants. Aquatic plants are fully adapted to life in aquatic environments. They tolerate changes in light, trophic and hydrological conditions well.

This includes aquatic plant communities that are free-moving and not rooted on the bottom (the common duckweed), or are rooted on the bottom but their leaves float on the water surface (the floating pondweed). The occurrence of the carnivorous and legally protected bladderwort is one of the most interesting aquatic plants in this locality. The bulrush and the water plantain colonise partially earthy, muddy places and shallow pits with water. There is a concentration of several hygrophilous species of sedges (the bent sedge, the common yellow sedge, the greater tussock-sedge, etc.) as well as the ribbon grass, occurring mainly on the edges of the banks.

Additionally, in this locality we observe an increasing occurrence of ruderal and invasive species as a result of industrial and agricultural activities in the vicinity.