Integrating Habitat Conservation with Amenity and Recreational Uses Along an Urban Stretch of the Adige River, Northern Italy - River Conservation and Management - page 327

Figure 28.4 The River Adige in Verona
as the central axis that connects city
areas, urban green areas, Natura 2000
sites, urban parks, Scaligers' castle and
Austrian forts.

addition, more than 350 species of plant and 117
bird species (11 of which are listed in Annex 1
of the Birds Directive; Council of the European
Communities, 2009) were recorded.

fish communities are particularly vulnerable to
impacts affecting hydrology and habitat structure
(Braioni and Salmoiraghi, 2007). Water level
fluctuations are caused by hydro-electric power
generation, agricultural irrigation and inflows from
urban water treatment works and intermittent
tributaries. These factors have impoverished
the morphological and hydrological diversity of
the river so much that some parts no longer
contain suitable breeding habitat for fish such as

Pressures and impacts

The river and its corridor are subject to several
pressures and both benthic macroinvertebrate and