Publication details
Pijavka lékařská (Hirudo medicinalis Linnaeus, 1758) – výskyt druhu ve střední Evropě a hledání příčin jeho kritického ohrožení v České republice
| Title in English | Medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis Linnaeus, 1758) - species distribution in Central Europe and searching for causes of its status as critically endangered species in the Czech Republic |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2010 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Hirudo medicinalis is a critically endangered species in the Czech Republic. It's an ectoparasite, which feeds on blood of vertebrates, especially mammals and amphibians. Juvenilie leeches feed only on amphibians . It has been used for medical bloodletting since ancient world. In last decades their use has increased, especially at plastic surgery and as prevention of circulatory system deseases. Because of leeches picking of for medical purposes during last centuries, number of European localities decreased dramatically. Critical influence is also degradation of favourable biotopes, which are small water bodies with muddy bottom, littoral vegetation and presence of amphibians. Poor occurance of medicinal leech in many European countries is result of insufficient sampling, not a sign of real absence. Available information from Germany came only from 2 Federal Republic and many of them hasn't been updated for more than 10 years. In Austria, there is the same problem with updated information. We have 2 localities record from 1997. Slovakia confirmed several recent localities, the biggest one at wetlands of Zahorie. The best status of H. medicinalis appears in Poland, where leeches has been found at more than 160 localities. Species presence here is very interesting due to high variability of biotopes and occurence of H. medicinalis at localities with high level of industry polution. In the Czech Republic medicinal leech is confirmed at 11 localities, 2 in Bohemia and 9 in Moravia. These are small lowlands water bodies as pools, pounds and dead river arms. Although the number of localities has increased during last 5 years, H. medicinalis is still a critically endangered species in the Czech Republic. The most important reasons of its unsatisfactory status are interventions and changes in landscape in the name of intensive agriculture, which lead to degradation of many favourable biotopes. |
| Related projects: |