The Diversity of the Flora and Vegetation of Lake Skadar/Shkodra

Research on the vascular flora of the Lake Skadar basin started in the middle of the nineteenth century when the German botanist Wilhelm Ebel visited this area in 1841. Based on the available literature and our unpublished data, a total of 1,396 taxa from 131 families and 588 genera have been reported from the area of the Lake Skadar National Park. The chorological structure showed that the Mediterranean-Sub-Mediterranean (28.7%) and Eurasian (24.9%) groups dominate. A phytogeographical analysis of the biological spectrum of the vascular flora revealed that hemicryptophytes (33.6%) and therophytes (32.4%) are most numerous. One element that is characteristic of the vascular flora of Lake Skadar basin is the high percentage of endemic species including a large number of locus classicus sites. Moreover, 40 species and subspecies that are endemic, and 42 species that are subendemic in the Balkan Peninsula were recorded in the flora of the Lake Skadar area. An analysis of the vegetation of Lake Skadar revealed the presence of 134 plant communities classified in 65 alliances, 48 orders and 30 classes. There are 50 taxa of vascular plants protected at the national and international level and 23 European Natural Habitat Types (Annex I of the Habitat Directive) that exist in the area of the Lake Skadar National Park.