RESEARCH ARTICLE The Impact of Conservation Management on the Community Composition of Multiple Organism Groups in Eutrophic Interconnected Man-Made Ponds

Ponds throughout the world are subjected to a variety of management measures for pur-poses of biodiversity conservation. Current conservation efforts typically comprise a combi-nation of multiple measures that directly and indirectly impact a wide range of organism groups. Knowledge of the relative impact of individual measures on different taxonomic groups is important for the development of effective conservation programs. We conducted a field study of 28 man-made ponds, representing four management types differing in the frequency of periodic pond drainage and the intensity of fish stock management. We disen-tangled the relative importance of direct and indirect effects of pond management measures on the community composition of phytoplankton, zooplankton, aquatic macro-invertebrates, submerged and emergent vascular plants. With the exception of phytoplankton, pond man-agement had strong effects on the community composition of all investigated biota. Whether management affected communities directly or indirectly through its impact on fish communi-ties or local environmental conditions in the pond varied between organism groups. Overall, the impact of pond drainage regime and fish community characteristics on the communit