Limnetica 35

Networks of protected areas represent one of the main strategies to reduce the rapid loss of biodiversity. However, most of these protected areas have been designed by considering only charismatic groups of vertebrates and plants, most linked to terrestrial environments. Thus, little is known about how well protected areas perform in representing aquatic biodiversity. This study analyses the suitability of national and European protected area networks (Natural Protected Areas and Natura 2000) in representing such biodiversity. For this purpose, we studied the different components of diversity (α, β and γ) using water beetles from the Segura River Basin as surrogates of overall macroinvertebrate biodiversity. Our results revealed no significant differences in α -diversity between protected and non-protected areas. Similarly, we did not find significant differences in β -diversity components (species replacement and nestedness, i.e., differences in among-site richness without species replacement) between protected and non-protected areas. The species replacement contributed more than nestedness to explain overall β -diversity changes. Finally, we found that the γ-diversity component was significantly higher in both protected areas, when compared to an equivalent number of randomly selected locations. Thus, the protected area networks from the Segura River Basin currently seem to have gaps in embracing the different aquatic biodiversity components. These results for river management and biodiversity conservation are discussed, providing some guidelines for future research.