Spring fens are groundwater–fed wetlands, hosting many low productive, nutrient–limited plants, mostly bryophytes and Cyperaceae. They often harbour an assemblage of wetland generalists and specialists like cold–climate relicts. Due to their island–like nature, the dispersal of specialists is often limited, and usually the specialist diversity is highly dependent on regional factors like history and connectivity with other fen habitats. Molluscs are especially good group of animals to look at, as they have a low dispersal rate and therefore, they often form isolated populations. Their reliance on moisture and calcium to build their shells, makes them ideal models for studying these habitats. In the past 20 years, a lot of progress on the studies of spring fen malacofauna has been made, but similar studies on Apennine spring-fens are still missing.
 
Aims:

• Based on literature review, describe the basic ecological characteristics of the spring fen malacofauna, with emphasis on the influence of climate.
• By processing new samples from approximately 20 spring fens in the Apennines, to describe the species richness and composition of spring fen malacofauna.
• Try to explain variability of collected mollusc assemblages with the help of measured factors.
• Compare diversity between studied locations and already existing data from calcareous spring fens of the Alps, especially with the regard to the occurrence of relict species.

 
References 
   Horsák, M., Juřičková, L., & Picka, J. (2013). Měkkýši České a Slovenské republiky. Kabourek, Zlín.
   Hájek M., Horsák M., Hájková P. & Dítě D. 2006: Habitat diversity of central European fens in relation to environmental gradients and an effort to standardise fen terminology in ecological studies. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 8: 97–114.
   Horsák M. 2006: Mollusc community patterns and species response curves along a mineral richness gradient: a case study in fens. Journal of Biogeography 33: 98–107.
   Horsák M., Horsáková V., Polášek M., Coufal R., Hájková P. & Hájek M. 2021: Spring water table depth mediates within-site variation of soil temperature in groundwater–fed mires. Hydrological Processes 35: e14293.
   Horsáková V., Hájek M., Hájková P., Dítě D. & Horsák M. 2018: Principal factors controlling the species richness of European fens differ between habitat specialists and matrix–derived species. Diversity and Distributions 24: 742–754.