Invertebrates

Scorpione d'acqua

Invertebrates play a vital role in contributing to the extraordinary high level of biological diversity in the wetlands.

Ecologically, these small, even microscopic organisms (at least in the majority of groups) play a fundamental role as they are the first rungs in the food chain and are essential to the processes of decomposition of organic detritus.

Although little known, apart from the Dragon Flies and Damsel Flies which are a symbol of the wetland habitat, the invertebrates offer everyone the opportunity to discover a little world populated by a multitude of organisms.

Each is different from the other both on account of their morphological characters and their adaptive strategies.

However, they are all closely linked by more or less complex ecological relations, relations which may vary over time with the change from larval to adult forms.

The inhabitants of this miniature world range from predators (e.g. Dragon Flies, Diving Beetles, Water Scorpions, Pond Skaters), herbivores (e.g. Butterflies and Moths, Snails, Planktonic Crustaceans, like shrimps) to parasites (e.g. some species of Leaches).

Farfalla e libellule in accoppiamento