Distribution of macrophytes and condition of the physical environment of streams flowing through agricultural landscape in north-eastern Slovenia

The distribution and abundance of macrophytes, land-use beyond the riparian zone, characteristics of the riparian zone and selected channel properties have been studied in 9 streams flowing through an agricultural landscape in the north-eastern part of Slovenia. The streams studied supported a rich macrophyte community. Altogether, 53 plant taxa were observed on 93 km of the streams. Canonical correspondence analysis indicated that 10 out of the 11 parameters examined significantly influenced macrophyte distribution. Of these, substrate characteristics and riparian vegetation type were the most influential. Species composition analysis revealed that the majority of species indicated moderate nutrient load while, in the more strongly modified reaches, species indicating eutrophic conditions, i.e. Myriophyllum spicatum and different species of genus Potamogeton, were more abundant.