The territory of the Piave Vecchia forms, with the short river bed between the gates of the Taglio river ed and the river crossroads of Caposile, a rich and varied fluvial ecosystem.
In fact this area receives normally the water flows of the Sile and sporadically of the Piave too, during the largest flood of this alpine river.
Therefore the structure and the composition of the ecosystem is more subject to the flows of the Sile, which take to the Piave Vecchia the biological heritage typical of its water.

The ecological system of the Piave Vecchia is however characterized by a vegetal component espacially of hydrophytes like vallisneria (Vallisneria spiralis), potamogeton (Potamogeton sp. pl.) and nymphaea (Nymphaea alba) but olso epiphytes like lake rushes (Scoenoplectus lacustris), sparganium (Sparganium ramosum), typha (Typha latifolia) and marshland reeds (Phragmites australis), as well as thick vegetation of shrubs and river bank trees.
The fauna is represented by a large number of primary and minor animal species.
There are a lot of aquatic shellfishes (Planorbarius corneus; Paludina vivipara; Limnaea stagnalis; ecc.) and some birds species like the eurasian coot (Fulica atra) and the common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus).

The minor fauna is represented by some dozens of fish species, like the tench (Tinca tinca), the european chub (Leuciscus cephalus) and the common carp (Cyprinus carpio); but olso amphibious, reptiles and birds, like the common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), the little grebe (Podiceps ruficollis) and the little bittern (Ixobrychus minutus), all of them are nesting.
There is a number of predators too and the river banks shrubs are inhabited by the northen pike (Esox lucius), the colibrid snake (Coluber viridiflavus) and the european polecat (Mustela putorius).
Therefore the entire aspect is of a rich and vital fluvial ecosystem, with a great balance between the various components and a big value for the breeding of the aquatic organisms and for the fluvial biogenetic reserve.

Text and photos: curtesy of the publishing, from the book 'Escursioni LAGUNA NORD VENEZIA', written by Michele Zanetti, for Itinerari Fuoriporta, Casa Editrice CIERRE Edizioni, Via Ciro Ferrari 5, 37060 - Caselle di Sommacampagna (VR)
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